Dive Summary:
- Speaking at the Greentech Media Soft Grid conference in San Francisco, Howard Scott, managing director of utility industry consultants Cognyst, called the national downturn in smart grid investment in the wake of massive stimulus spending "inevitable."
- Scott predicted big opportunities internationally, however, saying that smart grid network investment "over the next two decades will be measured in many trillions of dollars."
- A Mercom Capital Group report indicated that smart grid VC funding peaked in 2010 and was at $66 million for Q2 2012.
From the article:
Weakening venture capital funding for one of the globe's fastest-growing sectors isn't a mystery for sector watchers, but with increasing adoption of disruptive monitoring technology, the market opportunity isn't a matter of if, but when.
Despite weakening venture capital funding for smart grid, the sector still represented a "trillion dollar market" as improved data processing helps transition utility companies from energy deliverers to service providers, said leading industry analysts this week. ...
