Global Smart Grid Analytics Market, Forecast to 2025

Big Data Analytics to Drive Utility Energy Management, Cost Reduction and Equipment Reliability

The global smart grid analytics market is projected to generate $2.31 billion in sales by the end of 2025. This study segments data analytics according to three main areas of the grid network, which range from customer endpoints, all the way up to the distribution and transmission network.

• T&D analytics consists of analytics-related management and optimization of T&D assets.
• Metering consists of analytics-related revenue assurance and revenue protection.
• Customer analytics consists of analytics related to customer service retention.

These systems already generate massive amounts of data from endpoints, such as distribution network sensors and smart meters. There are currently approximately 319 million distribution sensors deployed globally, whereas on-the-edge, AMI networks transmit nearly 900 Terabytes data yearly alone.

A key issue is that much of this data is gathered in an unstructured manner and only 2% to 4% is actually used for analytic purposes.

It is projected that the market will gradually switch to predictive and prescriptive analytics, especially as networks with low-latency capabilities are laid out to minimize the reactionary time (e.g., 5G). The industry predicts that 5G will start deployment in the 2021 to 2022 timeframe. Predictive and prescriptive analytics will incorporate statistical models that flag areas of inefficiency as well as evaluate and predict events in a timely manner, to finally have AI-enabled analytics that can deliver a holistic decision-making tool.

Growing complexity with analytics and high capital cost are creating opportunities for new business models, for example, cloud-based managed services, where customers contribute very little upfront cost and instead pay a monthly subscription.

From a geographic standpoint, deployment is directly linked to a high installed base of endpoints, including distribution and substation automation and smart meters. Based on this, North America is currently the largest market for grid analytics. Nevertheless, Asia is expected to pick up momentum and will exhibit the fastest CAGR among all four regions, growing at a CAGR of 13.2% between 2018 and 2025.

The emphasis is on improving energy access and minimizing financial losses (non-technical losses). India and China, in particular, have been leading the way when it comes to utility-scale renewable energy sources. India has a target of installing 175 GW and China has a solar target of 270 GW by 2022. Places such as Australia and Singapore are looking to minimize power interruption by integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) data analytics and forecast events. Japan, on the other hand, will be an ideal market for customer analytics due to its plans for 100% penetration of smart meters by the year 2024. This would consist of energy efficiency and real-time consumption data of appliances.