Yemisi Izuora with additional report
China is reportedly leading global smart meter market through Q1 2017 with 408 million meters installed, accounting for 68.3 per cent of tracked installations.
The report compiled by Navigant Research, Global AMI Tracker 2017 provides an analysis of global utility smart meter projects.
It tracks data related to global customer endpoints, meter manufacturers, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) communications vendors, systems integrators, and meter data management (MDM) vendors.
Michael Kelly, research analyst at the company said: “As expected, progress in China continues as the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) approaches the tail end of its nationwide rollout in 2017.”
Kelly added: “Meanwhile, the North American smart meter market has seen a handful of new project announcements and some notable project updates, while in Europe, smart electric meter activity remains high as multiple national rollouts continue in varying stages of deployment.”
According to the report, in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa, smart meter uptake remains limited due to significant barriers to entry.
However, large-volume project activity is said to be on the horizon, primarily as a function of theft prevention, labour cost reduction, and grid modernisation goals.
The report also includes an examination of the technologies, timeframes, and vendor selections for AMI deployments around the world, along with vendor selection share analysis for North America.
The research firm states that their latest analysis follows since the release of Global AMI Tracker in Q4 2016, whereby the North American market has seen a handful of new project announcements by Clay Electric, Chugach Electric Association, and City of Pasadena and some notable project updates from Hawaiian Electric.
Outside of the United States, Canada is also reported to have been experiencing a lull in project activity, as most of the country’s major utilities have reached near full penetration of their meter fleets.
In Europe, smart electric meter activity remains high as multiple national rollouts continue in varying stages of deployment, research firm stated.
Notably, new legislation has been enacted in Germany that will finally kick-start the country’s partial smart meter rollout.