The United States tagged $11 billion in stimulus money to push smart grid upgrades forward under President Obama, but other countries are laying down big dollars as well. Energy efficiency goals and incidents such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and India's recent blackouts have put added pressure on governments to rethink energy policy—and better grid tech is getting plenty of attention.

Here, Utility Dive breaks what five big-spending governments are doing with their smart grid budgets:

1. BRAZIL
Echelon recently announced an agreement with Brazil's ELO Sistemas Eletrónicos that will involve $17.1 billion going toward smart meters by 2020. The country could see 63 million new unit installations as a result of the deal, making smart meters a lot more visible there over the course of the next decade.

2. CHINA
China allotted $7.32 billion for smart grid investment in 2010, according to data from the firm Zpryme Research & Consulting. Additionally, China's State Grid Corporation announced plans in 2011 to put $45 billion into smart grid upgrades, a report from the Center for American Progress explains. That could be followed by an additional $45 billion between 2016 and 2020.

3. JAPAN
Smart meter demand is up across Asia, and Japan faces the unique challenge of recovering from the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima that followed. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) was ordered to get started on plans for installing 17 million smart meters by 2019, according to a 2012 Zpryme report. The move is part of a larger $1.7 trillion energy plan and Japan's desire to shave $1.3 billion in electric operating costs over the course of the next decade.

4. SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean government has committed $1.3 billion to a program that will see more smart meters installed, Bloomberg reported in March. Post-Fushima fears have brought energy issues into the spotlight in public conversation, and the country aims to cut one nuclear power plant's worth of consumption by 2016.

5. AUSTRALIA
Australia's government has committed up to $100 million to its "Smart Grid, Smart City" project, which the country hopes will pave the way for a commercial-scale smart grid. The project has been going on since October 2010 and will continue until September 2013 with the help of GE Energy and IBM Australia and Energy Australia. The government wants to collect data about smart grid costs and benefits through the program to inform future electric decisions.

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