Submetering Market ‘Will Grow to $1.5B in 2020’

The worldwide market for submetering technology and services totals $771 million and will grow to $1.58 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.4 percent, according to a new Pike Research report.

North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific collectively amount to 85 percent of the global market, with the remaining 15 percent spread between the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. This split will remain consistent over the next eight years as demand for submeters and their associated services surges in the largest three regions, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts.

While Schneider Electric, Honeywell and a number of other major building efficiency solutions providers lead the submeter technology and services market globally, Pike Research says pure-play vendors play an important role on a national and regional level, offering high-quality products that often fill important niches.

The technology’s basic capabilities and configurations have not changed significantly over the last few decades. Submetering has long provided a way for savvy energy managers concerned with the untapped efficiency potential of buildings and factories to understand energy use and identify areas for improvement.

However, this market is starting to grow significantly as building professionals tie the technology into broader energy management packages for property owners and managers, Pike analysts say. The expansion of green building markets worldwide is a key driver of submetering demand, as green building certification programs like LEED and BREEAM recommend, incentivize, or even require submetering to be installed in certified properties.

In addition, a number of regulations such as building codes and governmental imperatives are coming into effect, requiring submetering or continuous energy monitoring. These trends are driving demand for submetering technology and services that leverage the data that submeters provide.

A report from Groom Energy published in March said that enterprise smart grid – the integration of submetering, hardware and software with the aim of increased control over energy consumption – is a $5.2 billion industry in the US and is growing at 40 percent per year. The report said C3, CA Technologies, ecova, EnergyCAP, EnerNOC, Lucid, Phoenix Energy Technologies, Schneider Electric, SCIenergy and Siemens are the enterprise smart grid vendors to watch because of their innovation, customer proof points, market momentum, product development and increased emphasis on enterprise-wide and multiple-site implementations.