April 6, 2012: Smart Grid Focus to Shift From Deployment to Applications in 2012
BOULDER, Colo. — The year 2012 represents a turning point for the smart grid sector, where it must prove its value, both in operational and financial terms, to the full range of stakeholders, according to a new white paper from Pike Research. In the next phase of smart grid development and deployment, the question is: What will we do with the massive infrastructure that has been deployed and all the data it will generate?
The smart grid promises a dramatic transformation of the world’s electricity infrastructure, with a long list of goals essential to maximizing efficiency and diversifying future energy supplies, notes Pike Research. While it is occurring more gradually than some would like, smart grid deployment has been taking place at a relatively rapid pace for the electric utility industry. Existing players are transforming, new (and old) players are entering (and leaving) the market, and consumers are realizing a new set of possibilities. Some 200 million smart meters have been deployed worldwide, 40 million of them in North America. Pike Research anticipates that 2012 will be the year in which the focus of the expanding smart grid sector shifts from infrastructure deployment to applications.