Dive Summary:
- While the smart grid demand is sporadic in the US and Europe, American smart meter companies are meeting demand in countries with government mandated rollouts, such as China and Brazil..
- Echelon's joint venture with China's Holley Metering reached a deal with the Chinese government to deploy an initial 30,000 smart meters in the wake of a government mandate to connect 300 million homes to the smart grid by 2015.
- Echelon is collaborating with Duke Energy in the U.S. to install 700,000 smart meters in Ohio, but the metering firm argues that the lack of a government mandate in America is driving it to target business overseas.
From the article:
"With government mandates driving smart grid deployment, China and other emerging markets are generating greater demand for components like smart meters.
European states like Italy have led the way for early deployment of key technologies like smart meters. But the economic slowdown in Europe and the U.S. has slowed demand in the west. That means key suppliers are turning are increasingly turning to emerging markets, especially China, to take up the slack. ..."
