China seen overtaking US as largest smart grid market

Global investments in smart grid technologies increased by seven percent in 2012 to $13.9 billion.

This was mainly due to demand in the U.S. and China, according to new figures by research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The U.S. remains to be the largest regional market for smart grid technologies, with $4.3 billion worth of investment in 2012, even as this declined from $5.1 billion in 2011.

Meanwhile, China is seeing an increase in investment from $2.8 billion to $3.2 billion last year. The growth is largely due to support of major smart metering procurement by the national State Grid company.

Bloomberg said China is expected to outmatch the U.S. as the largest smart grid market this year as the U.S. government’s stimulus-funded projects wind up and Chinese investment continues to scale up.

Overall, Asia raised its investment to $5.6 billion in 2012, with new digital energy initiatives in the pipeline in Japan, India, Korea and Southeast Asia.

“Growth in the smart grid industry remains strong. Asia and Europe will be responsible for the greatest spending increases between 2013 and 2018,” said Albert Cheung, practice head for energy smart technologies at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

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