Dive Summary:

• According to a report by Pike Research, the worldwide market for smart grid data analytics is expected to grow to more than $34 billion through 2020.
• The majority of this spending will occur in Asia Pacific, where annual investment will surpass $2.5 billion by 2020; China’s aggressive deployment of smart meters and its related infrastructure drives the growth in this area.
• Pike Research director Carol Stimmel says the increased cost of data analytics in unavoidable: “Smart grids cannot be considered smart without the actionable intelligence to correct deficiencies and introduce efficiencies throughout the power delivery system.”

From the article:

The smart grid transformation is resulting in an enormous volume of data – a data deluge – flowing into utilities at a high rate. The volume of data is expected to grow by several orders of magnitude over time. Utilities must solve data collection and storage challenges and learn how to analyze and act on new forms of information before they even get to the point of realizing real returns on their smart grid investments. According to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, the worldwide market for smart grid data analytics is expected to grow steadily through 2020, with cumulative worldwide spending from 2012 through 2020 totaling just over $34 billion. ...