Report: Smart grid could cost $476B
Rick Merritt
5/24/2011 11:43 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Costs and benefits of building a smart electric grid have more than doubled as the vision of a digital, networked power utility has expanded, according to a new report from the Electric Power Research Institute. Sensor networks are on the rise as one of the big and under-served opportunities in the diverse terrain of the smart grid.
The EPRI report estimated the cost of upgrading the U.S. grid could range from $338 to $476 billion, up from $165 billion in a 2004 forecast. Benefit estimates have also skyrocketed to a range of $1.2 to $2 trillion, up from $660 billion estimated in 2004.
EPRI's previous estimates did not include enabling plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, renewable energy sources, grid-scale energy storage, distributed generation and demand response applications that let consumers adjust energy use based on changing energy prices. Benefits of a smart grid include reduced carbon emissions, energy savings and reduced blackouts that cost $10 billion per event.
Most of the costs of building a smart grid—an estimated $231 to $339 billion—are in the back-end electric distribution system, the report said. Smart grid costs also include as much as $32.3 billion in back-end IT systems for electric utilities and another $3.7 billion in cyber security hardware and software.
More. http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4216278/Report-Smart-grid-could-cost-476B
http://xrl.us/bij3ti A new report from Pike Research forecasts that 276 million smart grid communications nodes will be shipped worldwide from 2010 to 2016, with annual shipments increasing dramatically from 15 million in 2009 to 55 million by 2016... this will represent a total industry investment of $20.3 billion during the seven-year forecast period, with annual revenues increasing from $1.8 billion in 2009 to $3.1 billion by 2016..."
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