#SmartGrid Upgrades to Top $45 Billion by 2015

The U.S. government and the utilities are planning on spending billions of dollars on making the electricity grid smarter. Look for a flood of new smarter appliances to take advantage of the emerging smart grid capabilities over the next five years. R.C.J.


Here is what ABI says about its own report: Cumulative global investment in smart grids, including smart meter implementations as well as upgrades to the transmission and distribution infrastructure, will approach $46 billion by 2015, according to the latest forecasts from ABI Research. A smart grid is an energy generation, transmission and distribution system equipped with an advanced two-way communications system that allows for greater visibility, control, and automation over the system for the utility operator. Simultaneously it provides a greater level of energy usage choice and automation for customers. It’s that communications system that makes a grid truly ‘smart,’ because it allows for the real-time monitoring of the current operational state of the network, as well as the ability to respond to those conditions automatically, as quickly as possible...
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