Zpryme surveyed over 300 executives in the energy, smart grid, and utility industries on their overall 2012 smart grid sentiment. See below for the survey findings and click below to download detailed INFOgraphic.

Zpryme findings from the Smart Grid Executive Survey 2012

Finding: Almost 9 out of 10 executives believe that federal government support (grants, loans or subsidies) are “very important” to the development of the smart grid
Translation: The deployment of the Smart Grid cannot rely solely on U.S. government support such as grants; 2012 will be the “Year of the Smart Grid Shakeout” as small to mid-tier companies will have their coffers dried due to the lengthy sales cycle associated with the utility industry.

Finding: 8 out of 10 executives believe overall utility smart gid investments will continue to rise in 2012
Translation: The overall U.S. smart grid value chain is cautiously optimistic for long term growth; companies such as Siemens, GE, and ABB will be heavy-hitters in investment for the overall Smart Grid with start-ups and mid-tier companies leading the way in analytics, energy management, security and energy storage. With Duke Energy having allocated $1 billion for U.S. deployment efforts with other utilities such as PG&E, and South California serving up major multi-million dollar investments, the overall U.S. smart grid value chain is more than optimistic for long term growth – industry segments such as energy storage, cyber security, network management software, and analytics will be key growth areas for 2012/13.

Finding: Over half of executives are confident that compared to 2011 smart grid investments will see “moderate growth” in 2012, with almost 1 out of 3 suggesting “strong growth”
Translation: With 2011 being the year of putting U.S subsidies to play, 2012 will be the year for action – industry segments such as energy storage, security, cloud based network software, and analytics (eg. Toshiba, Panasionic, eMeter, Alcatel-Lucent, Coda, BLP Global, Proximetry, and OPower, respectively) will be key growth areas for 2012/13.

Finding: AMI (60%), access/communication networks (43%), EVs (42%), and transmission/distribution automation (41%) rounded off smart grid technologies that executives believe will make the most immediate impact in 2012
Translation: With EVs not quite making a direct impact and the smart home still an industry aspiration, the driving force for the smart grid in the U.S. will be AMI and communications, with distribution automation being the ever-constant backbone. Companies such as IBM, GE, Itron, Cisco, and Telvent will make the most immediate impact in 2012.

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