There’s only a small handful of giant smart meter manufacturers that make up the usual suspects list — Itron, Elster, Echelon, GE, Landis + Gyr, and Sensus. But here’s a player that you probably haven’t heard of, yet could one day be the ten-ton-gorilla in the ring: Chinese firm Holley Metering.
According to Pike Research Holley has grown into a “top-three supplier of electric meters worldwide,” and has found success exporting low cost meters internationally, particularly into developing smart grid markets like China itself. At this point the key word for Holley would be “electric” meters, and Pike points out that Holley has so far mostly focused on electromechanical and solid state meters.
However, Holley clearly has its sites set on growing its connected smart meter business. Pike says the company is focusing on the benefits that automated meter reading can deliver to utilities, and its meters can be connected via various wireless radio frequencies, powerline communications, and the wireless standard ZigBee. On Holley’s website it adds cellular wireless flavors CDMA and GRPS to the possible connectivity list as well as “the Internet.”
Holley’s website also interestingly enough touts: “Congratulations to Holley Metering on winning the SGCC bid (total amount CNY 364 million).” While I don’t know much more about this deal other than that tidbit, that figure is equivalent to $53.73 million, and SGCC, or the State Grid Corp. of China, is China’s largest power grid builder and stretches across 26 provinces and over 1 billion people.
State Grid Corp., said last year that it’s set a goal of building a smart grid by 2020 in an effort to meet China’s energy demands, which are expected to double over the next decade. Building out China’s smart grid will also help the country get ready to add in more renewables including solar and wind. According to the China Electricity Council, last year the Chinese government spent more on building out the grid and making it smarter than on power generation.
State Grid’s entire smart grid initiative will take enormous resources. An analyst with Essence Securities, according to this Bloomberg report, estimated China will need to spend as much as $10 billion a year through 2020 to build a modern grid. So Holley’s $53 million deal is just a small part of SGCC’s overall spending.
U.S. smart grid companies are trying to sell into China as well. GE, which also sells smart meters, has partnered with the City of Yangzhou, China, to build a smart grid “demonstration center” in the city of 4 million, with the goal of deploying some of its smart grid tech within four years. GE says the initial demonstration phase — which will include wireless-enabled smart meters, home energy management systems and smart appliances set up in a 100,000 square-foot lab -– is meant to showcase how GE technologies can “help China improve the reliability, efficiency and carbon footprint of its energy delivery.”
Smart meter maker Itron says it has been selling its products in China at least since the 1990s, and the firm estimated in 2008 that only about 1 percent of China’s utility meters are automated –- meaning there’s plenty of growth in the country for Itron and others.
IBM, too, wants to sell smart energy services to China’s utilities and announced late last year an agreement with ENN Group, a Chinese energy provider, to form a joint venture focused on “intelligent energy.” The two companies said they will develop “innovative energy services” and promote intelligent city programs throughout China. Big Blue expects to generate a minimum of $400 million in smart grid revenues in China over the next four years, a spokeswoman told us.
However, Holley Metering does have the upper hand domestically. The Chinese government often creates “buy China,” mandates and analysts says that it’s not uncommon for 70 percent of wind turbine components to have to be sourced domestically in order to be eligible for projects in the country. China’s smart grid could end up having a similar rule.
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