30 million smart meters for 30 years each = 900 million smart meters * $50-100 each = potentially up to $90 billion in revenue.



Taiwan pioneering ‘smart grids’ for energy conservation


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archiv...0/19/2003456348

THE OBSERVER, TAIPEI
Monday, Oct 19, 2009, Page 12

“Taiwan is the place to do this because we already have a strong information infrastructure and we can manufacture fast and at low cost.”

— Taiwanese government official

Taiwan’s biggest power company, telecom operator and IT firms are designing metering and communication systems to link air conditioners and lighting systems with computers and mobile phones.

Efficiency gains from the scheme could save millions of tonnes of carbon emissions.

The technologies will enable property owners to set “energy budgets” for their buildings, send electricity price change updates to consumers via cable TV or mobile phone and let telecoms firms start providing power optimization services.

These systems are likely to be crucial to recently announced moves in the UK, the US and China to build “smart grids,” because Taiwan develops and manufactures many of the world’s electronic chips and components.

Taiwan Power (台電), the nation’s utility, will launch a small-scale research study of less than 100 homes that will be rapidly expanded to tens of thousands of homes in the next two or three years.

“Taiwan is the place to do this because we already have a strong information infrastructure and we can manufacture fast and at low cost,” a government official said.

She estimated that the country could save 10 percent of its energy simply by switching off idle devices and another 10 percent to 20 percent through better management of air conditioning.

“Human beings are lazy,” the official said. “If you make adjustments automatically, then you can save a great deal.”

In trials, Taiwan Power is experimenting with wireless devices so smart meters can communicate with all the devices in a house.

Ho Wu-chi of the Industrial Technology Research Institute said Taiwan aims to develop a two-way system of communication between electricity suppliers and users.

Consumers will receive frequent updates of price fluctuations so they can trim usage at peak times. While the UK aims to do this through dedicated displays in each house, Taiwan wants to do it more cheaply by using existing devices such as cable TV, mobile phones and computers.

“We are putting in place a smart meter policy. If we want to go into the international market, we have to show first that we can do it ourselves,” Ho said.

Within five years, he said that more than 5 million smart meters would be installed at a cost of NT$50 billion (US$1.55 billion).

In the international market, the business potential is enormous. For each of the next 30 years, Ho estimates the world will need 30 million meters, each retailing for between US$50 and US$100.

Taipower begins installing smart meters for energy conservation


http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_cont...p;lang=eng_news


Central News Agency
2009-10-09 10:39 PM
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Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) has begun installing smart meters for large electricity consumers as part of its efforts to develop smart grids that will help conserve energy, a company spokesman said Friday.

Speaking at a seminar on the opportunities and challenges of green industries, Yang Chin-shih, head of Taipower's electricity research arm, said smart grids deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce costs and increase realiability and transparency.

"This modernized electricity network is being promoted by many countries around the wolrd as a way to address energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues, " Yang said.

Installing smart meters is the first step toward developing a comprehensive smart grid system.

Once the advanced metering infrastructure is completed, consumers will be able to easily understand how much electricity they are consuming through the smart grid's energy management system and use the knowledge to plan and control their power consumption to save energy and money, Yang said.

The state-owned company will also be able to use the smart grid system to differentiate its power rates and to easily detect damaged power transmission lines to improve service quality, Yang said.

To build up advanced metering infrastructure, Taipower has been installing smart meters for its large customers in recent months.

"Taipower now has 23,000 high-voltage electricity subscribers who consume a combined 50 percent of our country's total power consumption, " said Yang, who expected the company will complete replacement of traditional meters with smart ones for its ultra high-voltage power users by the end of this year.

Ultra high-voltage power users are those using 69kV power systems or higher.

The company will then install smart meters for those using power systems of 11kV or higher, with the completion date set for 2011, Yang said.

Smart meter replacement for household electricity users will be completed by 2013, Yang said.

According to estimates released by the quasi-official Institute for Information Industry (III), the development of a smart grid will generate NT$60 billion in business opportunities that have already caught the eye of many local and foreign companies.

Yang said Taipower is using smart meters jointly developed by Tatung Co. and the III as part of its efforts to help the high-tech sector take root in Taiwan.