Greentech Lead India: Smart meter shipments in Q4 2011
grew 11.8 percent over the previous quarter and were up 23.8 percent compared
with Q4 2010.
IDC Energy Insights expects annual smart meter shipments
to surpass 140 million units worldwide by 2016, up from 25.4 million in 2011.
This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
32.9 percent over the 2011 to 2016 forecast period.
Developing markets will drive smart meter growth through
2016, the revival of the Canadian market and an uptick in shipments to Central
and Eastern Europe were the primary drivers in the closing quarter of 2011.
In 2012, smart meter shipments in Europe will accelerate
as country-level planning continues to progress and the pathway towards the
European Commission’s 20-20-20 targets begins to materialize.
Shipments will increase significantly in the Asia/Pacific
region as the massive markets in China and India begin to integrate advanced
metering infrastructure (AMI). The Japanese market is also gaining momentum
with the renewed focus on conservation in the wake of Fukushima, while
utilities in Oceana are learning to manage the consumer backlash that emerged
from previous deployments.
As the smart metering industry moves through 2016,
activity will shift from North America and Europe to the developing world. This
shift will be accompanied by an evolution to meet a new set of market needs.
“Local deployment patterns are beginning to emerge in the
global smart metering industry. Each market and each utility has different
needs and different intentions for their AMI system. Smart meter vendors are
developing a wide array of solutions to fit the needs of each market,” said
Dean Chuang, senior research analyst on the IDC Energy Insights Trackers.
By 2016, there will be a pronounced difference between
AMI in mature markets and upcoming emerging market deployments. Utilities in
emerging markets tend to focus more on billing and theft deterrence than
customer engagement or next-generation smart grid applications.
Additionally, emerging markets have displayed a greater
degree of price sensitivity than exhibited at earlier deployments in more
mature AMI markets.