April 2011 Vol. 238 No. 4

In The News

Study Projects 74.6 Million Smart Meters Worldwide By 2015

The Worldwide Quarterly Smart Meter Tracker from IDC Energy Insights is forecasting worldwide growth of 13% in smart meter unit shipments from 2010-015 and a total of 460.9 million smart meters shipped through the forecast period.

Over the past year, growth in the market was driven strongly by government stimulus funding, which helped accelerate the speed at which projects were deployed, especially in the United States. While the speed of market adoption in the United States and EMEA has driven recent growth, looking forward, IDC Energy Insights forecasts that adoption in Europe and Asia/Pacific, mainly China, will act as the primary catalyst for market growth for the next 5-10 years.

Market penetration of smart meters is widely considered to be a key enabler of the smart grid.
“These smart meter deployments represent the first wave of smart grid investment by utility companies worldwide,” said Rick Nicholson, group vice president, IDC Energy Insights. “Once the smart meters and communication networks are in place, we expect to see additional investment on the customer side of the meter in home energy management and smart building technologies as well as on the utility side of the meter in distribution management and distribution automation.”