We came across this great article recently which should be taken as a stern warning for UK based utility companies as they attempt to roll out smart grid technologies.

It’s basically a tale of woe based on the experience of US utilities and their apparent inability to sell the benefits of smart metering to their customers. The lesson is quite simple, focusing solely on savings is not going to convince a sceptical customer base to buy into the smart metering ideal. In doing this, several US utilities have fallen into the trap of trying to justify a significant upfront investment with a relatively small customer saving. The example cited here is Connecticut Light and Power trying to sell the idea of a $411 meter against a 20 year customer saving of just $11!

Instead utilities should be focusing on the increased reliability and OPEX improvements that smart metering provides and should also be less dismissive of genuine consumer concerns around privacy. Smart metering appears to be quite a difficult sell in the US. A pressure group in Illinois has just released a 4,000 signature petition calling for a referendum on the roll out of smart meters. So, UK utilities have been warned, it’s time to get their best marketing people on the job.

Gas and Electric utilities will stampede toward wireless M2M technologies according to new data that’s recently been published by Pike Research. The report forecasts a massive spike in the deployment of M2M communications nodes largely driven by the adoption  of smartgrid Machine to machine systems to deal with back end utility functions such as metering and automation.

According to the report, the deployment of M2M and smartgrid technologies will peak at around 11 million units a year in 2015 as utilities build out their smartgrid NANs (neighbourhood area networks) and tail off to an annual unit volume of 8.2 million by 2020. This will mean that more than 73 million nodes will be deployed in smart grid applications between 2011 and 2020 which translates into an approximate $1.9 billion dollar market.

The research also points toward technology trends within this market space and forecasts that 3G technologies such as UMTS/ HSPA and EV-DO will account for around 54% of the smartgrid market. 2G technologies will hang on to a significant 25% market share with the upcoming 4G networks accounting for most of the rest.

Some white space

The upcoming analogue TV switch-off opens up some exciting opportunities for utilities and other companies to exploit smart grid communications according to this fascinating article on Smartgrid Opinions.

TV White Space is the name given to the naturally occurring gaps in the spectrum used by TV bands. This “white space”, along with the numerous channels that are soon to be freed up as we transition to digital broadcast, offers a host of possibilities for new services and business models. Why? Well, for a start it’s cheap as using the spectrum is free. It’s available globally and (once the analogue switch is complete) there will be masses of bandwidth available.

There’s a lot of excitement growing around the use of TVWS at the moment as this recent Radio 4 broadcast illustrates. It’s an appealing technology for a number of different market sectors and applications such as M2M, rural broadband provision and smartgrid look set to benefit as adoption grows.

There’s still a long way to go though. As the article explains, the technology is complex, the ecosystem is immature and there is little existing regulation and standardisation to work.

Watch this (white) space…

Starting in 2013 that means the national roll-out of up to 35 million electricity smart meters across the country at a cost of around €4.3 bn.

The news was announced by French minister for Industry Eric Besson who claimed that 7 million of the meters (known as “Linkys”) would be deployed by the end of 2014, with the remainder due for national roll-out by the end of 2018. This would out the French well ahead of the EU’s 2020 target.

The installation is to be carried out by ERDF, the largest distribution system operator in France and a division of energy company EDF. The project is expected to generate more than 10,000 jobs for the French economy and should help French companies gain valuable experience and a headstart in the soon-to-explode smart grid market.

Not everyone’s delighted with the news though, new figures seen by Le Parisien newspaper suggest that the average French consumer could see a rise in energy prices (€2 per month and a one-off €42 charge) unless the French goverment makes the decision to subsidise the cost of these 35 million units.