The report said the installation boom represents a year-over-year growth rate of 37 percent. Pike believes that the demand for smart meters is likely to increase in the next five years since it is regarded as an integral part to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Andy Bae, senior analyst for Pike, said that governments and utilities in Asia Pacific aim to use the smart grid and smart meter to achieve four goals – improve grid reliability and security, improve operating efficiencies, balance power supply and demand, and reduce the power grid’s impact on the environment.
Mr. Bae said that, among countries in the region, China still has the most ambitious goals for smart meter installations.
According to the report, China will represent more than three-quarters of all installed smart meters in Asia Pacific by 2016.
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China’s dominance in the region’s smart grid market may well continue through 2020 since the government already set a goal to introduce 682 million to 782 million smart meters in this decade.
Japan and Korea are also competing in the smart meters race with China. Last month, General Electric Company formed a joint venture with Fuji Electric Holdings Company to design, build and sell smart meters for the country’s utilities and residential customers.
Meanwhile, Korea has launched a $65-million Smart Grid pilot program on Jeju Island for 6000 households that will use wind farms as an energy source. The country plans to have a “nationwide, high-level smart grid completion by 2030” according to Pike.
In addition, states in Australia, particularly in Victoria, also plan to boost installations much like China. The state plans to install 2.5 million smart meters by the end of 2013. However, the state government has put the $2-billion Australian solar smart program on ice in March 2010 due to concerns of possible high electricity prices, reported local newspaper The Age.
