By Jack Murray, Market Research Manager, Newark
Energy efficiency driven by technology has become a hot topic of conversation in board rooms, legislatures and homes in every part of the world. Smart metering stands out as being
one of the most promising, truly transformative new technologies. The populist groundswell on the consumer side is in harmony with the goals of utility providers, as both stand to benefit mightily from a more transparent and directly manageable smart power grid.
Pike Research, a leading provider of clean technology market intelligence, estimates that more than 250 million smart meters will be installed worldwide by 2015, up from only 46 million in 2008. The opportunity for meter and communication suppliers is expected to reach almost $20 billion between 2010 and 2015. “Smart meters are the vanguard of Smart Grid deployments,” says Clint Wheelock, Managing Director at Pike Research. “Current AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) rollouts are breaking the traditional 15-20 year meter replacement cycle, and represent an unprecedented effort to add intelligence and communications to electrical metering.”
“AMI” is a much more accurate way of describing the movement to smart metering, since the meter itself is only a small portion of the enabling infrastructure. AMI promises a pervasive network infrastructure that goes way beyond merely transmitting usage data back to providers for monthly billing. The next step in the foreseeable future is empowering consumers to directly manage hourly consumption based on peak rate fl uctuations. Imagine a web dashboard accessible from a personal computer that charts usage rates and costs by appliance, allowing one to schedule a dishwasher in the middle of the night or dynamically control temperature settings, based on peak rate triggers transmitted back to the household by the utility.
Currently most smart meters are connected to a utility’s enterprise IT system through a NAN (Neighborhood Area Network). Usage data is transmitted to the local NAN by way of an RF network or power line transmission, which in turn transmits the data to a regional hub. In North America, transmissions are handled primarily by RF mesh networks, while in Europe the more dominant early transmission channel is power lines. The most advanced smart meters already include an interface to consumer appliances through a HAN (home area network) with direct linkage to thermostats and major appliances. Not surprisingly, interoperability standards between technology providers are still being worked out, along with appropriate security measures to prevent hackers from compromising systems.
Leading semiconductor manufacturers like Texas Instruments and Analog Devices have already developed entire portfolios of products aimed at capitalizing on AMI deployment. One can fi nd a comprehensive array of SOC’s (system on a chip), processors, power management chips and RFID devices that already support the nascent AMI market in 2010. In fact, Texas Instruments has created its own dedicated web portal showcasing its smart metering solutions and related applications. (http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/landing/ smartmetering/index.html).
Market research fi rm AMI estimates meter shipments in North America were up about 25% for the fi rst half of 2009, while the European market was down about 33% and is expected to experience a temporary lag until around 2011, when large-scale plans begin rolling out. In all regions, the confl uence of technology standards and regulations will force vendor communities and governments to work together quickly, but the “smart money” seems to favor the integrated solutions providers over the long term.
