According to a smart grid report titled ‘Smart Grid Landscape in Europe - Market Size, Key Issues, Regulations, Investment Analysis and Outlook to 2020’, the European smart grid market could share energy from their natural resources. The authors believe that the development of electric vehicles and its market in Europe is dependent on non-financial incentives.
For many countries in the develop world transition from analogue to digital broadcasting is either finish or in its final stages. While employees in one government department are praising the successes of switching over to digital broadcasting others are just rolling up their sleeves to start working on the smart meter switchover. Like the broadcasting switchover the smart meter switchover will be digital except smart meter will be a more connected solution (end-to-end) involving the government, utility providers and us the consumer.
In the future our home will be accessible electronically from anywhere; provided there is internet connection. To go a bit further the model for future home electrical devices and components is they should be communicable, even the light bulb we use. The idea behind the” internet of things” is that every one of these components and devices will have an IP address or addressable, thus the demand for IPv6. This intercommunication is not a question of if because these technologies are already available.
Amdocs has announced the launch of two new solutions for service providers wanting to offer both M2M (Machine-to-Machine) and Connected Home services or either. The new solutions according to Amdocs will enable service providers to quickly and cost-effectively enter the fast-growing connected devices market, create new revenue streams, provide a unified customer experience and allow them to compete with over-the-top providers.
The UK’s technology trade association Intellect has published a report in which it predicts the UK’s connected home market could worth £3bn a year within the next five years. The report entitled “Connected Home – a Reality” looks at elements of the connected home and offers guidance on making it a reality for everyone.
Trilliant has launched a smart metering interoperability group to support UK utilities with their smart meter roll-out. According to Trilliant the group will offer utilities a clear low risk route for utilities to help consumers to cut their energy bills. The interpretability group consist of eight industry players including in-home display providers and energy and water resource management solution provider.
Kosciusko REMC, the Indiana based electric cooperative has selected Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream RF Smart Grid solution for its advanced metering project. Starting early 2012, Kosciusko REMC will start rolling out Landis+Gyr’s E350 FOCUS AX-SD residential meters, E650 S4e commercial meters and Gridstream RF mesh network technology. The programme is expected to run for 18 months and include all 18 thousand members.
According to research firm ABI Research an estimated $590 million was spent on smart grid security technologies in 2010. They are projecting that by 2016 the amount will surpass $2 billion. In 2011, security spending on transmission upgrades made up the largest portion of smart grid spending; approximately 54%. ABI expects security spending to maintain this trend over the next five years.
While much of the smart grid development in Europe mirrors programs underway in North America and other parts of the globe, there are important differences in priorities and emphasis. In particular, aggressive goals for energy efficiency and carbon emissions reductions are major drivers for smart grid and smart meter deployments in Europe. Over the next five to 10 years, these deployments will be closely linked with the achievement of 2020 carbon reduction goals in the European Union.
The Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) has found out in a survey of US citizens that consumers weigh society and personal benefits equally when considering Smart Grid technologies. Market Strategies gathered the findings from the latest Consumer Pulse survey conduct for the SGCC between August and September this year.