South America Smart Grid Market Forecast (2013-2023)

According to a report entitled “South America Smart Grid: Market Forecast (2013-2023) Volume II “ from Northeast Group, the cumulatively spend on smart grid in South America is expected to reach $49.8 billion by 2023.  This spending will be allocated across the five segments of advanced metering infrastructure (or "smart meters"), distribution automation, wide area measurement, home energy management and information technology.

Two-thirds of electricity generation in the region comes from renewable hydropower, making it the cleanest power sectors in the world. The study of the ten countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Bolivia) found a 15.5 per cent distribution loss rate due to power outages and pervasive electricity theft. As a result, an increase in investment to address these issues is expected over the next ten years.

"South America stands to achieve some of the largest benefits from smart grid infrastructure among all emerging markets," said Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. The bulk of the spending will be in distribution automation ($23.2bn), followed closely by smart metering ($19bn with 80.7m meters).

Northeast have notice more activities since their last report two years ago. Today said Ben, there has been more activity in the region around smart grid; there have been drafted smart grid roadmaps, pilot projects and more vendor activity.

"Brazil is the leader, but other countries also have made large strides. Ecuador is aiming for full smart meter deployment by 2017, Colombia and Peru are finalizing roadmaps and Chile is developing smart city pilots," said Ben. Established smart grid vendors are positioning themselves for this huge potential market and new players are entering the sector, such as telecom operators eager to expand their machine-to-machine (M2M) market offerings."