With service revenues expected to reach US$11.2 billion annually by 2023, it’s pretty clear that traditional utilities are out, and smart grids are in.
The technology is evolving, government support is increasing and demand for better energy management globally is making the whole thing possible.
In fact, smart grids are one of the topics up for discussion at this year’s Renewable Energy India Expo. The country is seeing major steps being taken towards smart grid implementation, and the expo will serve as a forum for industry experts to meet and discuss the future of smart grids in the country.
Ahead of the expo, TechNavio analysts prepared a special survey on the global smart grid market, to get a sense of the present and future prospects for this technology in key geographies like the Americas and the APAC region.
We polled companies that manufacture and develop smart grids, as well as private and public utility companies using the technology in order to get a clearer picture of how smart grids and the related technologies are proliferating.
But as smart grids electrify the utility world, they are also spawning a number of related and equally viable markets. For example, the Global Smart Grid Cyber Security Market is growing at a CAGR of 9.7 percent, with the market size expected to nearly double by 2018.
The Global Smart Grid Communications Market trumps that with even more dramatic growth, posting a CAGR of 10.8 percent from 2013-2018.
Strengthening the Power Grid: Smart Grid Communications
Smart grid communication networks are used to support smart grid applications. These communication networks provide essential infrastructure, allowing utilities to manage smart grid devices from a central location, thereby streamlining the process.
Previously, communication networks for smart grid devices supported SCADA systems as a machine-to-machine technology. However, with technological advancements in the industry, new field-based sensors, wireless technologies, and mobile devices are being used to support SCADA systems. This allows the traditional power grid to become more resilient, reliable, and efficient.
Better Energy Management across the Board
There are a few trends that are serving to boost the smart grid comms market over the next few years. TechNavio analysts have narrowed these down to the top three:
- Increased Demand for Narrowband Power Line Communications (N-PLC)
- New Standards
- Smart Meters
Smart Grid Communication Hierarchy
Increased Demand for Narrowband Power Line Communications (N-PLC)
N-PLC is used in smart energy generation, particularly in solar panels for micro-inverters. Apart from smart grids, the use of N-PLC is also growing for other applications such as building automation, advanced metering, renewable energy, and electric vehicles.
One of the major reasons for the increased market for the N-LPC is that it has a longer range, which can be further extended by repeaters. This enables consumers (in this case, utilities) to communicate in long range, which has huge implications for the smart grid.
New Standards
Widespread adoption of ZigBee technology is one of the main reasons for the growth of the Global Smart Grid Communications Market. More than 85 percent of home area network (HAN) devices use ZigBee technology to send and receive data between an electrical appliance and a controller. Other technologies, such as PLC, RF, Z-Wave, USNAP, Wi-Fi, and HomePlug, are also gaining popularity and driving the growth of the market.
Smart Meters
Power utilities around the globe have been working to change the way data is transmitted to and collected from consumers through various communication networks. AMI-enabled meters are being deployed to facilitate two-way communications between utilities and consumers. With this increase in deployment of smart energy meters, there has been progress in maintaining data at the grid level.
Smart energy metering solutions, which are one of the integral parts of smart grid communications, support the overall objective of managing the electricity grid. An increase in the installations of smart energy meters worldwide has led to the generation of a large amount of meter data, which has naturally triggered growth of the Global Smart Grid Communications Market.
