Smart Energy Finances: $60bn global revenue from smart meter deployment by 2027

Juniper Research’s findings that smart meter deployment will generate $60 billion in revenue for vendors globally by 2027 – up 44% from 2023 – leads this week’s finance column.

Also on the radar are an energy data analytics partnership for market insights, a strategic partnership to generate revenue streams for V2G fleet operators and a renewables real estate investment strategy.

Smart meter deployment revenues up 44%

A new study from Juniper Research, which provides insights into the sustainable technology market, found that hardware, connectivity and service revenue from smart meter deployments will exceed $60 billion in 2027; up from $41 billion in 2023.

According to the research, Smart Grid: Key Opportunities, Challenges & Market Forecasts 2022-2027, this 44% growth reflects how smart meters are becoming critical to increasing the efficiency of energy grids via analytics; central to lowering costs to customers during the energy price crisis.

The research finds that Italy, which has had mandatory smart meter installations since 2006, leads globally in smart meter deployment. By 2027, the research forecasts that the country will have the highest household penetration rate of smart meters globally, at almost 100%.

The top five countries were ranked as follows:

1. Italy (99.6%)
2. UK (98.7%)
3. Saudi Arabia (98.4%)
4. Hong Kong (98.4%)
5. UAE (97.4%)

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The research recommends utility companies focus on educating consumers on the benefits of smart metering, as these benefits are often unclear to them. Utility companies should focus on the potential for saving energy, with evidence-based use cases to catalyse adoption.

It also found that, with over 1.8 billion smart meter connections forecast to be in use by 2027 globally, smart meter connectivity represents an important opportunity for cellular networks and low-power IoT connectivity.

It states that low data usage of smart meters lends itself naturally to low-power IoT, but as cellular networks are the only networks capable of providing ubiquitous access in some markets, they clearly still have a role.

Report co-author Nick Maynard explained: “While smart meters have come a long way in deployment terms, they are only as good as the connectivity they leverage. Utility companies must aim to aggregate the best networks for their locations, or they will fail to obtain the benefits smart meters can readily provide.”

V2G revenue opportunities

Synop and BorgWarner are partnering up on revenue-generating opportunities for Electric Vehicle (EV) fleets using Vehicle to Grid (V2G) tech.

Partners Synop, a commercial EV fleet charging and energy management platform, and automotive suppliers BorgWarner are hoping to provide monetisation opportunities for fleet operators by lowering the overall costs of fleet ownership.

The two companies will supply hardware and software solutions, and establish V2G testing and compatibility best practices, aiming to enhance V2G tech while supporting utilities and the grid.

Further to this, the partnership will help resolve traditional challenges for EV fleets - such as system uptime, resilience to price volatility and charging mixed fleets.

The partnership follows utility programmes both companies jointly participated in, through which – touts both - commercial fleets were able to make back a maximum of $12,000 per commercial vehicle by selling energy to power the grid.

The announcement of the partnership follows an acquisition for BorgWarner of Hubei Surpass Sun Electric’s (SSE’s) Electric Vehicle Charging Solution, Smart Grid and Smart Energy businesses, which the company touts as an important move for their electrification business in Asia as it is expected to complement their existing charging footprint in Europe and North America.

A strategic data analytics partnership

Energy Aspects (EA) and Vortexa have announced a strategic partnership to combine energy commodity data and intelligence with cargo tracking analytics to provide energy markets with insights into short-term market dynamics.

Under the partnership, EA will use Vortexa’s cargo tracking analytics as an input to its research and analysis on global crude, refined products and LNG markets.

The partnership aims to bring increased clarity to risk-based energy markets.

Fredrik Fosse, chief executive at Energy Aspects, stated that their analytics will be well combined with EA’s data, allowing them to “benchmark and complement primary data sources with those of the leading third-party providers."

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Headquartered in London, UK, with global offices, Energy Aspects was founded in 2012 by energy industry experts Dr. Amrita Sen, Fredrik Fosse, and Richard Bronze to meet the need for research into energy market and macro fundamentals, grounded on big data and forecasts.

Vortexa provides real-time data and advanced analytics for energy and freight markets, covering crude oil, refined products, LPG and LNG, across vessel classes.

Real estate investment strategies for renewable assets

Accelerate Investment Partners and CBRE Investment Management (IM) launched Accelerate Infrastructure Opportunities, a strategy to invest in digital and renewable real property interests across North America.

CBRE is a global real assets investment management firm, while Accelerate acquires, owns and manages investments in ground leases and land under critical infrastructure assets that generate long-term, sustainable cash flow.

This includes renewable assets – such as wind, solar, storage and EV charging projects – as well as cellular infrastructure and billboards.

Robert Shaw, managing director, private infrastructure at CBRE IM, stated: “Accelerate’s long-term partnership focus on acquiring real property interests under renewable and digital infrastructure projects provides an innovative way to deploy capital in the infrastructure 2.0 assets that we believe will thrive in the new digital, green economy.”

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Announcement of the partnership and strategy came on the same day as Fortune named CBRE ‘One of America’s Most Innovative Companies’, marking CBRE the only commercial real estate services company to receive such a recognition.

Accelerate’s management team leading the strategy includes Brennan Potts, founder and CEO of Accelerate, Brandon O’Gara (managing partner and chief financial officer), Graeme Kavanagh (partner and chief revenue officer), Josh Castillo (partner and chief investment officer, infrastructure) and Brenda Hurst (partner and chief operating officer).

For the latest finance and investment announcements coming out of the energy industry, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly, our finance column.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief,
Content Producer, Smart Energy International

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