Smart meters to be largest wireless comms app, says analyst

Richard Wilson

Monday 26 July 2010 10:51

A report from Pike Research forecasts that 276 million smart grid communications nodes will be shipped worldwide during the period from 2010 to 2016.

The cleantech market intelligence firm expects that this will represent a total industry investment of $20.3bn during the seven-year forecast period.

This means that annual revenues increase from $1.8bn in 2009 to $3.1bn by 2016, despite rapidly falling average selling prices (ASPs) per node.

“The greatest myth of the smart grid is that there will be one communications technology to rule them all,” said senior analyst Bob Gohn.

“The reality is that smart grid networks will be as diverse as the internet, including fixed and wireless, public and private, standard and proprietary technologies.” 

Gohn predicted that advanced metering infrastructure nodes for smart meters will be the largest communications equipment category over the next several years.

Pike Research’s report, “Smart Grid Networking and Communications”,examines the market for communication technologies in all areas of smart grid operations, from the utility substation to the home area network.