Global smart grid investment nears $14bn mark
Thứ sáu, 25/01/2013 - 10:10
Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports smart grid investment soared seven per cent last year and is set to continue climbing
Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports smart grid investment soared seven per cent last year and is set to continue climbing
Global investment in smart grid technologies climbed seven per cent last year to $13.9bn, led by strong demand in the US and China, according to new figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
The update, released yesterday, also predicts investment will accelerate in the coming years with the market predicted to almost double by 2018 to $25.2bn at a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent.
The market is dominated by the rollout of smart meters and supporting infrastructure, which accounted for $7.1bn of investment last year. However, Bloomberg also reported increased spending on smart appliance, demand response and smart electric vehicle charging trials during 2012, as well as rising investment in back end smart grid systems, such as fault monitoring.
The US remains the world's largest smart grid market, generating $4.3bn of investment in 2012, although this represented a fall from the previous year's $5.1bn.
China saw $3.2bn invested in state-backed smart grid programmes, and BNEF predicted it will overtake the US as the world's largest smart grid market next year as the Obama adminstration's stimulus-funded projects come to an end and Chinese investment continues to climb.
The European market is also expected to see investment increase significantly from 2014 as national smart meter programmes kick off in the UK and France. However, currently the market is lagging behind that in the US where utilities have a longer track record of investing in smart grid-enabled demand management technologies. Just $1.4bn was invested in smart grid systems across Europe last year, up marginally from $1.1bn in 2011.
"Growth in the smart grid industry remains strong," said Albert Cheung, practice head for energy smart technologies at BNEF, in a statement. "Utilities, policymakers and regulators are increasingly aware of the economic, environmental and reliability benefits of smart grid technologies. These enable consumers to make better-informed choices about how they use energy. They also improve the reliability of the grid and allow it to integrate larger amounts of intermittent and distributed renewable power."
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