Greentech Lead Asia: North America leads the initial
market in many smart grid IT innovations, but the European and Asia Pacific
markets will become more significant over the next five years, says a new
report from Pike Research.
According to Pike Research, the need to define and deploy
new IT systems to support the smart grid is driving greater collaboration
between the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) sides
of the business.
The total smart grid software and related IT services
market will reach $4.3 billion by the end of 2012, the study finds, and grow to
over $8.6 billion by 2017, the report said.
China will become a more active player in smart grid
market in the coming years; however, the scale of Chinese investment in grid
infrastructure is yet to be matched by an impact on the IT market.
Europe’s drive toward its 20-20-20 carbon-reduction
targets is focusing innovation on the issues around renewable integration,
energy efficiency, and energy security. Â
The uncertainty as to how new IT systems should be
incorporated into network operations continues to slow the advance of smart
grid technologies. The evolution of the smart grid from the initial deployment
of smart meters to a dynamic, intelligent network supporting bidirectional
communications between utilities and customers is only just beginning.
To address the smart grid IT challenges, utilities are adopting varied
approaches. In some utilities, the CIO is driving the planning process to
achieve an architectural view of IT and OT, says research director Eric Woods.
Others are allowing operational teams to take the lead in defining
requirements, with the IT organization adopting the system provider role.
“However, most utilities are focused on defining the new
functions and processes required for smart grids, finding ways to work together
to achieve this and worrying later about organizational structures,” Woods
said.
editor@greentechlead.com