Greentech Lead America: South American smart grid expenditure is estimated to reach $49.8bn by 2023, according to a new study published by Northeast Group.
This spending will be allocated across the five segments of advanced metering infrastructure, distribution automation, wide area measurement, home energy management and information technology.
The bulk of the spending will be in distribution automation ($23.2bn), followed closely by smart metering ($19bn with 80.7m meters).
Two-thirds of electricity generation in South America comes from renewable hydropower, giving it one of the cleanest power sectors in the world.
However, there are major problems with electric transmission and distribution infrastructure. A distribution loss rate of 15.5 percent is the highest in the world due to pervasive electricity theft and power outages are a continuing problem.
As a result, an increasing share of electricity infrastructure spending is being allocated to smart grid investments that can help solve the numerous problems plaguing the region.
“South America stands to achieve some of the largest benefits from smart grid infrastructure among all emerging markets,” said Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group.
Over the past two years, several countries have drafted smart grid roadmaps, launched numerous pilot projects and vendor activity has accelerated across the region.
Brazil is the leader in smart grid deployments, but other countries also have made large strides. Ecuador is aiming for full smart meter deployment by 2017, Colombia and Peru are finalizing roadmaps and Chile is developing smart city pilots.
Established smart grid vendors are positioning themselves for this huge potential market and new players are entering the sector, such as telecom operators eager to expand their machine-to-machine (M2M) market offerings, the report said.