Netherlands
Smart meter rollouts have not gone smoothly everywhere. Though the Netherlands has had some smart meters since 2005, in April 2009, an
NRC Handelsblad story reported that
smart meters would not be compulsory. That decision by Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven was influenced by consumer groups raising privacy concerns. Although a 2006 EU directive requires the introduction of smart meters, van der Hoeven had planned to make their installation compulsory. Refusal to install them, the paper reported, would be “punishable with a fine of up to 17.000 euros or six months in prison.”
Meanwhile,
Amsterdam is planning to use SG technologies to make itself more eco-friendly. Projects related to the three-year $1 billion effort are to start coming online in 2012. According to
Spiegel Online International, the plan is estimated to cost $410 per household over 15 years to install smart grid technology alone.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea is one of the 10 largest energy-consuming countries. It is also dependent on foreign sources for 97% of its energy, as a GridWeek
presentation by Han-koo Yeo, director at the Climate Change Policy Division, Korea Ministry of Knowledge Economy, pointed out. SG drivers in Korea are the desire to meet the climate change challenge and to improve its energy security and, consequently, its balance of trade by reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.
With its manufacturing strengths and IT savvy (the same GridWeek presentation claimed the country has deployed broadband Internet to 80.6% of the nation), it has designs on being the
world’s first “national smart grid” by 2030, though it would appear that Sweden and Italy have a considerable lead in that competition.
An August
Asia Power story quoted the state-run electricity company, Korean Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), as saying, “‘The consumer-side smart grid is aimed to be completed in 2020, and is expected to become nationwide by 2030. This technology is part of the US$103 billion initiative of Korea to increase its generation of green technology to 11 percent in the next two decades, from the current 2.4 percent,’”
Meanwhile, KEPCO is planning a US$100 million SG demonstration project, according to Han-koo Yeo, for residents of Jeju Island that is scheduled to be operational by 2011. His GridWeek presentation claimed that the Jeju project would be “the most advanced and biggest test bed in the world” and would integrate “smart” places, transportation, renewables, power grid, and electricity market.
Sweden
Along with Italy, Sweden was among the first of the European nations to conduct smart metering pilot projects, in 2001. Since then, Swedish investments in SG work have proceeded even faster than required by law, and in October 2009,
Sweden became the first country in the world in which every customer has a smart meter. Also in October,
ABB announced a partnership with the utility Fortnum to design and install a large-scale smart grid in a new district of the city of Stockholm. The project will “develop a variety of solutions to ensure that excess power generated from renewable energy sources in the district itself (from sources such as rooftop solar panels) can be fed into the power grid; to enable electric vehicles to draw electricity from the grid or feed it back in; to store energy; and to provide more flexibility and transparency in the distribution grid, helping to lower consumption and emissions.”
United Kingdom
In 2008, the UK set 2020 as its goal for having all customers equipped with smart meters, and smart grids are seen as essential to reliably integrating the large amounts of variable renewable generation already installed and planned.
Pilot smart meter projects have already been running, but on May 11, 2009, the
UK government unveiled a plan requiring all 26 million homes in the UK with smart meters by the end of 2020. The plan could cost an estimated £8.11 billion ($12.3 billion). The Department for Energy and Climate Change claimed it would be the largest smart meter project in the world. Though the rollout is expected to cost as much as £340 per household, “The Energy Retail Association—which represents the major electricity and gas companies—said that smart meters will be ‘cost-neutral’ to customers because the savings to its members will part-fund the roll out,”
The Guardian reported. The first of the meters is expected to be installed in 2012.
The UK’s first smart grid was scheduled to become operational in late 2009 in the Orkney Islands archipelago in northern Scotland. A primary goal is to facilitate the integration of variable renewable generation.
Greenwise reported that “The Government has pledged to invest £6 billion in smart grid and the technology is expected to be more in demand as further renewable energy devices are connected to the grid to meet the UK’s 2020 emissions targets.”
The
Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets, which regulates the UK grid, plans to create up to four smart grid cities on the model of SmartGridCity—Boulder, Colorado. Funding to the tune of £500 million will be spread over five years,
The Guardian reported.
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