Top Ten Smart Grid

What companies are leading the charge toward a smart grid of the future? And, who are the utilities that are taking the lead in giving them a market? We’ve broken down the smart grid sector into a number of broad components areas – smart meter manufacturing, neighborhood-area meter networking and communication, in-home energy management, demand response, meter data management, other smart grid software and services, and the broader role of integrating these areas.

1. Top Smart Meter Maker: Itron

When it comes to smart meters, Itron Inc. (NSDQ: ITRI) is top dog. The Spokane, Wash.-based smart meter manufacturer holds the top spot for market share in North America and worldwide, according to the company's most recent data. It got its early lead with so-called AMR (automatic meter reading) meters, which broadcast but do not receive data, and has leapt out to a lead with two-way communicating meters in the so-called AMI (advanced meter infrastructure) market as well.

Big AMI contracts include Southern California Edison (about $480 million and 5.3 million meters), CenterPoint Energy (about $350 million and 3 million meters), DTE Energy (about $350 million and 3.3 million meters) and San Diego Gas & Electric (about $260 million and 2.3 meters).

Itron is also noteworthy for having pioneered the radio mesh technology that has emerged as the preferred way for smart meters to "talk to" one another in neighborhood area networks – though Itron's "OpenWay" RF mesh system isn't part of every deployment (Silver Spring Networks has been the chosen vendor for that function for many projects).

That's not to say that competitors aren't eager to take the top spot. Swiss-based Landis+Gyr and Silicon Valley-based Echelon are particularly strong in Europe, and fellow smart meter makers Sensus, Elster and General Electric are all competitors worldwide.

Comment

The City of Miami is installing wireless water meters at a cost to each resident of around $50 each. It is supposed to let them know earlier where water leaks are and allow for constant water metering, a big thing down here. It should also allow them to tell exactly how much water is actually being used by each resident. The sewers in Miami are in such bad shape that when storms or hurricanes hit all the rainwater leaks into the sewers and the residents are charged for it, even tho they didnt use it. Meters at the end of the sewer lines measure how much water is received and we are charged accordingly. I dont know if those meters are at the end of each block or some specific area but my area, Miami Springs, pays the highest water rates in ALL of S Fla. Perhaps that means we had, and have, the most leaky sewer system around. We gave it to the County last year and they are installing wireless meters, so maybe it will get better.