Box 6: Potential growth in the smart meter market
The global number of smart meters installed is expected to reach 535 million units by 2015 and 963 million units
by 2020.
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The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be a major contributor to the growth in use, with China’s state
grid smart meter market alone valued at US$7.7 billion and a potential market of 300 million smart meter units.
Currently, China has a smart meter base of around 70 million. The state grid is expected to install smart meters at
a rate of 50 million to 60 million units per year through 2014.
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Source:
Metering International Magazine, “Efficiency from metering to service solutions”, Issue 3, 2011.
On the supply side, smart grids enable a high penetration of renewable energy sources through enhanced con-
trol of the fluctuations in the power supply. The supply of many renewable resources is intermittent, so
utility
services normally have a hard time integrating them into the system. What smart grid technology offers, is a
system that can virtually go out and see what resources are available and dispatch them to the consumers. On
the demand side, the deployment of a smart meter and smart appliances lets system operators as well as con-
sumers know when demand for electricity is outstripping supply and thus curtails the use of electricity.
Smart grid technology is not yet commercially viable because the standards and protocols for the system
integration are still under development. There are several smart grid pilot projects around the world. The biggest
barrier to smart grid
application may be the costs, as it will be expensive to implement smart grid technologies
because old equipment and transmission infrastructure will need to be replaced and upgraded.
Further reading
Environmental Improvement through Product Development: A Guide (Copenhagen, Danish Ministry of the
Environment, 2009).
A Guide for EcoDesign Tools, second edition (Berlin, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration,
2005).
Carbon Capture and Storage,
by John Gibbins, John and Hanna Chalmers (London, 2008).
The Base-Load Fallacy, by Mark Diesendorf (Sydney, Institute of Environmental Studies,
University of New South
Wales, 2007).
Interim Report of the Growth Strategy: Implementing Our Commitment for a Sustainable Future, Report
prepared for the Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level (Paris, OECD, 2010). Available from
www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/46/45312720.pdf
Co-generation and Renewables (Paris, OECD, 2010).
The Future of Coal Options for a Carbon-Constrained World (Cambridge, MA, Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, 2007).
Renewable Energy: Investing in Energy and Resource Efficiency (Nairobi, UNEP, 2011). Available from
www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_6_RenewableEnergy.pdf
Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific :
Fact Sheet - Green technology
