January 1, 2010

Which Country’s Grid Is the Smartest?

Gail Reitenbach

U.S.

Smart grid projects in the U.S. derive from a mix of utility-initiated, state-legislated, and federally supported efforts. For details of some of the major U.S. smart grid developments, see the companion January issue web-exclusive stories “U.S. Smart Grid Forecast: Flurries of Activity” and “What Do Consumers Expect from the Smart Grid?”

And the Winner Is…

No fully functional smart grid of any meaningful scale exists yet. At this point, the easiest quantifiable metric for measuring SG development progress is the number of smart meters installed, because these devices are typically seen as the prerequisite for making many smart grid promises come true. Using that basis, it seems that Italy and Sweden are essentially tied. Italy appears to have the highest number of advanced meters installed, but Sweden (with a smaller population than Italy) has deployed the devices throughout the entire country.

By way of summarizing recent SG activity and putting all the global players in context, consider one industry analyst’s perspective.

In a Nov. 4 Infrastructurist interview, David Leeds, an analyst specializing in grid technology at Greentech Media (and author of a free 145-page report, "The Smart Grid in 2010"), had this to say about the late 2009 U.S. federal smart grid funds: “these matching grants will lead to a direct investment of $8.1 billion in the near term, an amount that slightly exceeds all of the venture capital that flowed into greentech last year—a major shot in the arm for the electric power sector in a recessionary period. On the other hand, while $8 billion does represent a substantial down payment on the upgrade of our nation’s grid, groups like the Electric Power Research Institute have estimated the cost of building out the smart grid at $165 billion over the next two decades—which comes to approximately $8 billion per year. So perhaps we are just doing the bare minimum, and 'the silicon valley of smart grid' may well end up in countries like China or India.”

Leeds said he expects “in five years time to have a majority of the U.S. population familiar with both the concept of smart grid, and using applications that sit on top of it. The same can be said of Europe, and many other population centers around the globe.”


—Gail Reitenbach, PhD is POWER’s managing editor.

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