Meter shipments to reach 100M mark

Meter shipments to reach 100M mark

But are they smart?

September 5, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Annual smart meter shipments will pass the 100 million mark next year -- up from an estimated 82 million units in 2013, according to IHS Inc. The projection comes despite a rapidly decreasing North American market that is experiencing the end of government funding, disappointing meter legislation in Latin America, and multiple and continuing delays to long-promised smart meter rollouts in the European Union.

Credit: IMS

"While it is true that growth in many of the traditional markets for advanced metering solutions has been disappointing in recent years, there is quite a bit of good news as well," said Jacob Pereira, IHS analyst for smart utilities infrastructure. "China's massive infrastructure-modernization effort includes a continuing countrywide overhaul of old metering systems, and that can make a big difference in a country of well over 400 million metering endpoints. In addition, recent announcements from some of the larger EU economies have added clarity to when their long-anticipated rollouts will begin in earnest, charging up the market."

Even so, for many, the majority of communicating meters being installed in Chinese homes and businesses do not meet the "smart" criteria.

"These meters are simple one-way communicating devices used for automatic meter reading, not the advanced functions usually associated with the word 'smart.' However, the European meter rollouts expected to start up within the next few years will generally incorporate multiple other features," Pereira said.

For all intents and purposes, the majority of the meters being shipped are "smart." Of the 110.6 million meters shipped in 2012, 98.5 million were smart meters, according to IHS.

Of the 118.4 million electric meters to be shipped in 2013, 107.7 million are the type of "smart" meters needed to integrate renewables into China's grid, IHS projects.

For more:
- see this article

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