Reliable: thanks to the information sent in real time and the remote management of the grid, the risk of power failures and incidents is reduced.Flexible: they make it easier to manage variations in generation and consumption better.In addition, this grid can communicate with any smart meters and, for example, turn on consumers' home appliances automatically when there is a lot of electricity in the grid and prices are therefore lower. Grid managers, who are located remotely, are informed of the situation in real time and can act immediately if there is a problem. This information makes it possible to automatically adjust electricity flows. Smart grids are fitted with sensors that gather and transmit data. What is the solution? Grids that can communicate It's a bit like trying to keep the water level the same in a bath but with the plug pulled out and the tap running, and with someone suddenly pouring in a bucket of water. In other words, these renewable energy sources are variable. Yet you can't ask the sun to shine at night or the wind to blow when you need it. However, renewable energy sources are now playing an ever greater role in energy generation. If electricity consumption varied, the volume of energy generated could be increased or reduced. When electricity was only produced by traditional power plants, it was relatively simple to manage this balance. Managing the balance: an increasingly complex task To put it simply, the amount of electricity fed into the grid by producers must always be equal to the amount of electricity taken out by consumers.If there is too great an imbalance, incidents such as power failures or, on a larger scale, a complete blackout could occur. This has enabled them to solve the growing issue of managing the balance of the grid. They have however evolved gradually to become 'smart'. Others in the top rankings are largely unchanged, while Dubai Electricity & Water Authority makes its entry to the top 10, with its advances in monitoring and control and security.In the past, electricity grids were simple pipes through which electricity flowed from the producer to consumers. UK Power Networks, last year’s number one position holder, is unchanged in its score, and is now equalled with Consolidated Edison from the US and Taiwan Power Company, with the latter’s score also notably increased. Indeed Enedis now records best practices in all the dimensions except supply reliability. The utility showed major improvements over the year having previously ranked 16th, in particular in data analytics, DER integration and security. The 2021 Smart Grid Index benchmarks a total of 86 utilities across 37 countries, with France’s Enedis achieving the number one position.

Asia Pacific utilities, slower to start are fast catching up, with 26% of utilities having EV initiatives. Moreover, 45% of utilities globally are actively enabling the use of electric vehicles, having EV fleets and providing public charging infrastructure. Other findings are that globally 65% of utilities have solar and wind energy contributing more than 10% of system demand, an increase of 9% from the previous year, with the proportion of European utilities, which have been leading for the past 4 years, reaching 83%. in all except for ‘Supply reliability’ where notably it is about half of that of the other two regions.įactors driving the global smart meters marketĪsia Pacific utilities on the other hand showed the greatest improvement in supply reliability, while for the European utilities it was in security. North American utilities also showed the highest maturity levels in the other dimensions, ‘Monitoring and control’, ‘Data analytics’, ‘DER integration’, ‘Security’ and ‘Customer empowerment and satisfaction’, i.e. Globally, utilities improved the most in the ‘Green Energy’ dimension – one of the seven assessed – by 7%, with the North American utilities achieving a 10% improvement. The annual benchmarking from the Singapore power group records improvements during the past year in all three regions, with North American utilities continuing to lead in smart grid development but with European and Asian Pacific utilities close behind. SP Group’s annual Smart Grid Index indicates that grids are getting both smarter and greener in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.