Smart grids to spread across Asia

(Picture Credit: EMA)

By 2017, the global smart grid market will be worth US$24.1 billion, with China, Japan and South Korea being Asia's most developed markets. And with data collected by smart grid devices increasing, this could lead to spin-off developments in the IT field, such as big-data management and data analytics. This is even though sales of smart grid devices are slowing down, said Brian Warshay, a Research Associate with Lux Research in the US. Warshay was among four speakers at a session on "Asia's Smart Grid Market", part of the Singapore International Energy Week 2012.

Phil Beecher, Chairman of Wi-SUN Alliance which seeks to advance wireless smart utility networks worldwide, cited several ways in which smart grid adoption could be further enhanced in Asia. Among other things, having common standards for such grids, and testing and certification of other smart-related products would be helpful.

The two other speakers focused on the experience that different Asian countries had with smart grids. In South Korea, the government had instituted a key initiative to manage the country's energy demand in the form of Demand Response, said Chang-Ho Rhee, Director, Electricity Industry Policy Research Center, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute. Demand Response allows consumers to voluntarily trim their electricity usage at specific times of the day, during high electricity prices or emergencies.

In China, however, smart meters manufacturers would dominate the domestic market and eventually start to look at overseas markets to sell their meters due to their price competiveness in manufacturing smart meters compared with other countries. Cheung named Malaysia, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Singapore as emerging smart grid markets.

By :Li Zhenhui, EMA