PCCA Journal 3rd Quarter 2014 - page 38

PCCA Journal|3
rd
Quarter 2014
38
Power News
Continued from page 37
Study Sees Worldwide
T&D Infrastructure Boom
O
ver the next decade,
the world will need to
invest between $140.2 to
$170.5 billion per year
on traditional trans-
mission and distribution (T&D) infra-
structure to keep pace with growth in
electricity demand. An additional $8 to
$27.3 billion will be invested annually in
smart grid infrastructure to improve the
efficiency and reliability of T&D grids,
according to a new dataset published by
Northeast Group, LLC.
“The significant need for new power
generation capacity makes the headlines
on a daily basis. But what is seldom
discussed is the equally important need
for new T&D infrastructure, which needs
an enormous $1.9 trillion in cumula-
tive investment by 2024. This includes
substations, power lines, and associated
equipment and new technology. T&D
investment typically represents approxi-
mately 40 percent of total power infra-
structure spending,” said Ben Gardner,
president of Northeast Group.
Investment in grid modernization, or
smart grid, is accounting for a growing
share of the overall market. In 2014,
distribution automation investment is
projected to account for 5.4 percent
of total T&D spending. This will grow
to nearly 14 percent by 2024, with a
compound annual growth rate exceed-
ing 13 percent. Cumulatively, the world
will invest $230.2 billion in distribution
automation between 2014 and 2024. This
will include spending on substation au-
tomation; fault detection, isolation, and
restoration; volt/VAR optimization; and
additional grid monitoring and control
technologies in the distribution grid.
Geographic regions will vary sig-
nificantly in their rates of investment.
Emerging markets will represent the larg-
est growth in T&D spending, with Africa
and Southeast Asia the fastest growing
regions as they build out new infrastruc-
ture to boost their electrification rates.
However, North America and Europe
will see lackluster growth in traditional
T&D infrastructure spending of around 1
percent, but will account for the majority
of smart grid spending.
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