Optimism for a growing Asian smart grid market

Speakers at the Asia Smart Grid conference expressed optimism for the future of smart grid development in Asia, at this week's Singapore International Energy Week.

Willie Chan, Director of Strategy (Global Operations) at Schneider Electric, said he believes that despite the current volatile economic climate, there is still a business case for smart grid developments in Asia. There are several reasons for this--the inevitable need for a greater degree of automation in the transmission and distribution space, a growing number of electric vehicles and increasing penetration of renewable sources of energy into the grid.

While the need to regulate carbon emissions and the prevalence of solar and wind power are some of the factors currently driving smart grid developments, Chan singled out energy storage technologies as well as a need to maintain customer privacy and cybersecurity as some of the key drivers that would underpin growth in the smart grid sector going forward.

Claude Galzin, Sales Director (East Asia), Network Management Solutions at Alstom, held similar views. He added that beyond maximising carbon dioxide-free energy sources and improving energy efficiency, smart grids also increased grid reliability and stability. Two trends that would shape future developments in the sector, he said, are: The need for interoperability and standardisation of various smart grid technologies from different vendors; and the emergence of prosumers--consumers with energy-producing capability.

Participants at this session, which was on smart grid business drivers, were keen to trade views with the speakers and moderator Kevin Smith, Global Director of Renewable Energy Sources at DNV KEMA Energy and Sustainability.

Among other areas, they brought up issues such as the influx of data--and the analysis of it. Faced with such an onslaught of data, Chan said utility companies would often need to acquire specific know-how for data analysis that do not traditionally reside within utility companies.

To a question on the development of smart grid in Europe versus Asia, Galzin noted that while there is presently no smart grid pilot projects in Europe, unlike Asia, some countries such as Denmark have very clear plans for the adoption of smart grid technologies.

That said, while the smart grid market looks set to grow and is in for some exciting times ahead, challenges remain and these will need to be faced.

By :Tan Wee Beng, EMA