Global smart meter business opportunities

At present, all countries in the world are committed to the development of smart grid infrastructure in order to ensure the safety, quality, and economy of electricity use. An important part of the successful operation of the smart grid lies in the need for complete and immediate collection of information on the power consumption of each power user. Therefore, the advanced metrology infrastructure at the intermediate end of the power supply and supply will become the key equipment for the smooth development of the smart grid; and the AMI must be completed. In order to build the infrastructure, smart power meters must be installed first, which has also prompted the countries of the world to give priority to the deployment of smart meters.

Supporting different AMI specifications in various countries' smart grid market

From the front-end to the back-end, the AMI contains a smart meter, a data concentrator, an analysis application system, and a communication network that connects all hardware and software devices. Among them, the smart meter is composed of a measurement module, a control module and a communication module. Among them, the most important component is a microcontroller (MCU). Smart meters can be roughly divided into low-voltage single-phase and high-voltage three-phase categories. Single-phase smart meters are mainly used by ordinary households, while three-phase smart meters are mainly commercial. Smart meters currently have a variety of specifications, including US ANSI C12, IEC IEC 6205x, EU EN 50470-X, Australia's AS1284.x, and China's own Q/GDW37x specifications.

As for the concentrator, it refers to the central management equipment and control equipment of the remote centralized meter reading system. It is the central node for network transmission and is responsible for reading terminal data, command transmission, data communication, network management, event recording, and horizontal data transmission. Functions; communication networks are divided into public or private wide area networks, regional networks, and other communication technologies such as ZigBee, Power Line Communication (PLC), Overall Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Terminal (ADSL), etc. The system refers to the meter data management system (MDMS), which can integrate, analyze, and manage the acquired power information, and provide the analyzed data to power companies, consumers, and third-party entities. Apply and add value. For example, it integrates with the back-end power company ERP related application software to improve the efficiency of power management and the quality of customer service.

National policy supports a surge in smart meter penetration

In order to promote the construction of smart grids, advanced countries began to prioritize the deployment of smart meters in 2008. Since electricity meters have a large number of users, it is not easy to allow users to accept them and replace them on a large scale in the short term. Most countries will first adopt policy plans and allocate funds to conduct smaller-scale and experimental demonstration projects, and gradually Large-scale popularization. With the promotion of national policies, the penetration rate of global smart meters and related infrastructure have continued to increase, and it is expected that they will be widely used after 2020.

At present, there are about 1.7 billion meters in use around the world. If it is replaced completely with smart meters, the market size will be considerable. From 2012, global shipments of smart meters reached 100 million units, up 31.6% from 2011. According to market research firm IDC, global smart meter shipments will reach 163 million units in 2015, and the compound annual growth rate will reach 15.4%. In-Stat research also pointed out that the global smart metering market revenue forecast will exceed 12 billion U.S. dollars by 2016, and smart meter penetration rate will reach 59% by 2020. Market research firm Pike Research estimates global smart meter installation. The volume will reach 963 million units in 2020.

AMI manufacturers can be divided into two major categories, namely, meter suppliers and AMI technology suppliers. Smart meter suppliers mainly provide electricity meter hardware facilities. Most of them are transformed from traditional meter manufacturers. The top three global market share are Itron, Landis+Gyr, and Elster. Others include Seneus, GE, SilverSpring, PRIMeters, Iskraemeco, etc. Companies; and AMI technology vendors provide communications, MDMS, or system integration-related technologies and services, including eMeter, SilverSpring, Itron, EnergyICT, Oracle, Aclara, Ecologic Analytics, IESO, IBM, and Atos. Among them, because AMI is a complete system and integrates technologies and components in different fields, system integrators are an important player in the development of AMI, including IBM, Accenture, and Atos.

China/Europe Demand High Smart Meters Shipment Growth Expected

Looking at the global smart meter market, the United States and Europe were among the first countries to start construction and have a large population. Therefore, it is currently the fastest-growing and most-demanded market. However, the United States has reached its peak since 2011 and has grown. The force has begun to slow down; in Europe, due to the large number of countries, there are still many countries that are rushing to catch up and have a lot of potential for growth in the future. Asian countries started to promote it later, but due to the active promotion of Japan and South Korea, and the advantages of population in China and India. Therefore, it has become an emerging market with rapid growth in installed capacity. It is expected that in the next 5 to 10 years, the growth momentum of smart meters will be mainly in mainland China and Europe.

As for the manufacturers part, there are currently several household appliances, chips, or MDMS manufacturers in Europe and the United States. Since they entered the market early and hold technology, they dominate the global market. However, in the future, countries will gradually develop local regional AMI-related manufacturers to provide The huge market demand in the region, especially in emerging markets such as mainland China, cannot be overestimated. With the implementation of protection policies, some manufacturers may even squeeze into the top ten global markets.

Responsible for the high cost of smart meters challenge the industrial chain to lift the trend of downstream integration

Among the factors affecting the development of the smart meter market, the most important source of power is the government's policy promotion. Observing the global smart meter market, it can be found that all governments are propped up and promoted through regulations, subsidies, or counseling policies. Due to the large number of users of electricity meters and the lack of public awareness, in the early stage of the promotion, there is a certain amount of difficulty in requiring immediate replacement. Therefore, most countries start with small-scale demonstration plans and then gradually promote them gradually.