Smart meters have had a big year in 2012, both in the U.S. and abroad. Numerous utilities hit milestones with their smart grid technology rollouts, and new opportunities continue to emerge for the devices in Brazil, Europe and China.
In November, several new stories emerged with developments on the policy, utility and smart meter manufacturing levels. Here are five such stories to watch:
1. ITRON'S PANASONIC DEAL AND MOVES ON JAPAN AND HONG KONG
Japan could see as many as 80 million new smart meter installations in the coming decade, and Itron looks like they want a a piece of that. The company formed a new partnership with Panasonic to pursue interest in that market. Additionally, Itron named Philip Mezey as its new president and CEO and announced a new smart meter pilot project with CLP Power Hong Kong.
2. FRANCE'S $5.5 BILLION SMART METER PROJECT
France announced that it plans to move forward with its $5.5 billion smart meter project by the end of 2014, Bloomberg reported. The project calls for more than 35 million meters to be installed in what is reportedly the largest smart meter rollout by a utility outside of China.
3. SOUTHERN CALFORNIA EDISON PUSHES SMART METER-TO-HOME DEVICES AT RETAIL
Southern California Edison broke out a plan offering customers $50 cash-back rebates if they pick up Rainforest Automation's Energy Monitoring Units, which are available at Best Buy and online. The devices to connect to smart meters, providing residents with energy usage information.
4. AUSTRALIA MAY REQUIRE SMART METER INSTALLATIONS
Australia released a white paper calling for energy reforms, and part of the discussion right now involves a national smart meter mandate. Big investments seem likely to happen, but the smart meters at issue are being debated.
5. EXECS BELIEVE 50% OF UTILITIES ARE FAMILIAR WITH SMART METERS
Zpryme released the results from a survey of 173 utilities executives, and respondents believe that about half of utilities are "very familiar" with smart meters. The survey, sponsored by Elster, contains other nuggets of info, including post-Hurricane Sandy opinions on technology and the utilities nationwide with the most smart meters.
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