Market Trends of Middle East and Africa Smart Meters Industry
Commercial Sector to Hold Significant Share
- The commercial infrastructure in smart metering contains hospitals, offices, schools, retailers, and restaurants, among others. The high investment in the commercial sector's development is expected to propel the demand for smart meters in this segment. The real benefit for commercial users is that they can focus on the volume used, lowering or streamlining the amount spent daily. Furthermore, real-time monitoring with analysis can enable small businesses in the region to address any waste.
- The water deficiency in schools in South Africa has led to the increased adoption of smart water meters. In February 2022, the government installed Smart water meters at Cape Town schools daily. Isikhokelo Primary School and Intshukumo Secondary School have reported combined savings of about 25,000 liters of water per day. Further, implementing smart water meters at 200 schools in the Mother City saved approximately 2 million liters of water daily.
- The growing infrastructure expansion in the region is further anticipated to drive the demand for smart meters and attract market vendors to target a vast range of commercial customers. In September 2022, Siemens announced that it intends to provide two Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) for the Alexandria Supervisory Control Center and the West Alexandria Distribution Control Center. During the project's implementation, advanced metering infrastructure will be established, including the supply of 300,000 smart meters.
- Moreover, in March 2022, Landis+Gyr Technology Inc. announced an agreement with Otter Tail Power Company to provide advanced metering infrastructure, software, and services to support the utility's plans to build a more thoughtful, robust energy grid across its three-state service territory in theMiddle East.
- In August 2022, a National Smart Meter Programme established by the Authority for Public Services Regulation, in coordination with other sector stakeholders, envisages the building of an estimated 1.2 million smart meters covering all electricity consumers by 2025. Such developments will further drive market growth.
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Supportive Government Initiatives and Regulations Driving the Market
- The countries in the region carry out multiple government activities to support the building of smart meters in the residential sector. For instance, the plan for large-scale intelligent metering implementation, helping Saudi Electric Company's (SEC) goal for boosting energy efficiency, has been set in motion. With the growing number of metering points, particularly in the residential sector, Saudi Arabia strives to install around 12 million smart meters in the Kingdom by 2025.
- Government initiatives and regulations are vital factors to be considered in the rollout of smart meters in multiple markets. Rising government support by the government in different nations, coupled with considerable investments, is expected to boost the rollout of smart meters across the region.
- For instance, in May 2022, according to IEA, oil and gas accounted for almost 95% of electricity generation in the MENA region. Also, thermal plants consume over 290 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.75 million barrels of oil daily in the region. This dominance of fossil fuels in MENA producer economies makes the emissions intensity of their power generation almost one-quarter higher than the global average.
- Furthermore, in April 2022, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company and the Saudi Electricity Company awarded a contract to a consortium led by Hitachi ABB Power Grids to construct an electricity interconnection. Saudi Arabia and Egypt can exchange up to 3,000 MW of power through the interconnection. Such developments hold significant potential to drive market growth.
- Moreover, South Africa's Smart Grid Vision 2030 aims to transform the electricity landscape in the region. It will upgrade the aging electricity infrastructure by installing smart meters and integrating the power grid, telecom systems, and information infrastructure. This would lead to the popularity of innovative grid data analytics solutions.
- In markets with no smart meter rollout or supportive legislation, utilities are still prepared to install smart meters in areas of their distribution networks where losses are high. Further, low electricity prices make it unattractive for significant utilities to deploy smart meters, yet to prevent simple theft, the players are preparing to install meters in households with the highest electricity loss rates.
- Furthermore, the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 and growing government initiatives and investment to deploy smart gas meters in the country also propel the market's growth. The increasing gas consumption in the residential and commercial sectors and the adoption of smart technologies to balance the demand and supply are mainly fueling the adoption of smart gas meters in the Middle East. Smart gas meters are being implemented in countries such as the United Arab Emirates to ensure more accurate readings, which is expected to benefit consumers from a financial point of view.
- Therefore, with the projects mentioned above and ambitious renewable goals, the Middle East region is expected to witness considerable growth in the market studied.
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