India smart grid investment to grow to $44.9 bn in 10 yrs

Clean energy grid India

With large-scale deployments beginning in 2017, smart grid infrastructure investment in India is projected to total $44.9 billion over the period 2017-2027, according to a new study published by  Northeast Group.

The growth is triggered by the growing demand for electricity, the increased focus on renewables and the government’s efforts to modernize the country’s infrastructure.

“India has always been seen as the largest potential smart grid market for international vendors,” according to Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. “But until recently, this potential has been slow to materialize, despite extensive government plans and pressing concerns over the $23.2bn lost each year to electricity theft.”

India’s recently established National Smart Grid Mission has charted out a deployment schedule for the next ten years, but several utilities are also moving forward with smart grid deployments independent of government plans. These include private franchisees that are deploying smart grid infrastructure to improve poor utility performance. India’s smart grid market will vary widely across states, with each state possessing a unique industry structure and regulatory framework. The largest smart grid market opportunities exist in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Kerala.

The competitive landscape of India’s market is comprised of a number of well-established vendors from both the domestic and international spheres. Four local vendors—Secure Meters, Genus, HPL, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T)—hold the majority of market share in legacy metering and are poised to similarly impact the smart metering market. A number of leading global vendors such as ABB, CyanConnode, GE, Honeywell, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Schneider, Siemens, Silver Spring Networks, and others are already active on some level in the overall market.

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