According to Innovation Observatory, the smart grid upgrade in the United States will cost $60 billion, including the meters, grid automation, communications infrastructure, IT systems and hardware, systems integration, and home area network equipment.
China will outspend the US on smart grid investments by 2016.
Other countries expected to be in the top ten spenders on the smart grid are France, Germany, Spain and the UK in Europe in terms of investment in smart grid infrastructure, and Japan and South Korea in Asia.
The Brattle Group’s recent study suggests that Smart Meters will provide net benefits from $96 to $287 million over a 20-year time period for a U.S. utility with one million residential customers.
That does NOT seem like a ton of benefit… at the high end, $287 per residential customer over 20 years is less than $30 per person on a non-discounted basis. Pretty small benefits!
Let’s hope there are more benefits that will accrue if the residents take advantage of other cost benefits of a smarter grid.
The study estimates the operational benefits that each utility would accrue as it replaces its existing metering infrastructure with smart meters, which allow for two-way communication between the consumer and the utility. In one case, the operational benefits virtually covered the installation investment. However, in all cases, additional benefits would accrue as customers participate in specific smart meter-enabled program offerings, including household energy use information delivered to customers in real time via in-home devices and web portals; dynamic pricing with and without technology options such as programmable thermostats with display information; direct load control with measurement and verification; and electric vehicles with a time-varying rate.
Over capacity in China is driving lower prices for solar and wind power, as reported in cnet.
A wind turbine can now generate electricity at a cost of about 6 to 8 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), depending on construction and financing costs, compared with about 3 to 7 cents for gas and coal, say analysts.
A wind turbine can now generate electricity at a cost of about 6 to 8 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), depending on construction and financing costs, compared with about 3 to 7 cents for gas and coal, say analysts.
A smart grid infrastructure can spot and stop energy “leaks,” optimize efficiency through better power factors and provide feedback loops that provide the right price signals to normalize energy loads during peak use. According to the Pacific Northwest Laboratory in partnership with the Department of Energy, the total potential benefit of implementing smart grid technologies over the next 20 years is conservatively estimated to have a present value of $75 billion.
EnergySavvy, a company based in Seattle, helps consumers take advantage of new smart grid apps and plain old construction materials to have a more energy efficient home.
From the company’s website: We build software systems that integrate with utility and government energy efficiency programs. Our solutions accelerate uptake and guide homeowners through the upgrade process. Smart program managers know that a smooth homeowner experience goes a long way towards achieving the energy efficiency goals of their programs. We’ve publicly announced EnergySavvy for Programs and we’re working on some exciting new products that are still under wraps.
Just heard about a new company called SmartSync. From their site:
SmartSynch is a Smart Grid Technology Company enabling utilities to communicate with any device on the grid. The company’s clean-tech innovations in the two-way delivery of real-time energy usage data over public wireless networks (AT&T, Rogers, T-Mobile, etc.), in lieu of private network build-outs, have simplified SmartMeter deployments for over 100 major North American electric utilities.
