China, Japan and South Korea's Smart Grid Market To Double by 2016

The Asian smart grid market of China, Japan and South Korea together are set to more than double to US$19 billion by 2016, according to a research report by GTM Research.  The report Titled “The Smart Grid in Asia, 2012-2016: Markets, Technologies and Strategies”, looks at the cumulative smart gird market of all three countries and provide a five year forecast.

With Asia is quickly becoming a center of global smart grid activity. Kamil Bojanczyk, the report's lead author and an analyst-at-large with GTM Research said, "We expect to see the smart grid in Asia move forward at a breakneck pace”.

“Over $45 billion in funding has been earmarked by governments and utilities across China, Japan and South Korea, with the clear majority of those funds and opportunities originating in the Chinese market," added Bojanczyk.

According to GTM, the vast majority of smart grid investment in China centres around transmission, distribution automation and automatic metering reading (AMR) to support a developing grid and robust renewable energy build-out.

GTM pointed out that in Japan, the sun setting of all of the country's nuclear plants has created an acute need for demand response, home energy management and smart meter deployments.

In South Korea said GTM, the market is developing quite differently; for the country with the most reliable grid in the world, South Korea and its chaebols are looking to develop next-gen smart grid technologies across all segments primarily for global export.