Ladder prices trigger smart meter market storm

According to relevant data, from 2010 to 2015, China's power grid system will replace 300 million single-phase smart meters, which means that more than 50 million energy meters will be employed every year. The development of smart meters depends on the progress of the power grid. As part of the smart grid, smart power meters will have a good momentum of development in the next 3 to 5 years.

According to statistics from the Instrument and Meter Industry Association, the total output of domestic electricity meters in 2011 was 102 million, of which about 83 million were smart meters. It is estimated that this year's total domestic output will reach 109 million, of which about 92 million smart meters, the growth trend is slowing down. Due to the rapid development of the smart meter market in 2010 and 2011, manufacturers of energy meters have expanded their production capacity. Now, in order to ensure capacity utilization, they have accelerated the development of overseas markets. It is conservatively estimated that there will be 28 million meter exports this year.

Judging from the export areas, Southeast Asia and the Middle East are mostly located. Everyone is also very optimistic about the Brazilian market in South America. It is expected that the speed will be accelerated in the second half of this year and next year. Zheng Xiaoping, vice president of Wasion Group, said that at present, the competition in the electric energy meter industry mainly reflects three characteristics: that is, the smart meter market has entered a period of moderate growth. At present, the traditional electric energy meter market has entered a period of moderate growth from a period of rapid growth. Competition in the entire industry has become fiercer and the profit margin of the industry has declined. At the same time, the smart grid has injected new vitality into the electric energy meter market and the market is expected to grow substantially. Second, market share will be concentrated in large companies, and industry restructuring is imperative. Finally, the competition for product cost, quality, and overall operating capabilities of the company will become more intense.

Ladder electricity price promotes smart meter demand and technological progress Since July, the ladder price and time-sharing electricity price have been implemented nationwide, which is conducive to saving electricity and electricity, and is one of the important measures to promote energy-saving and emission reduction. It has far-reaching society. Meaning and historical significance.

“The smart meter has functions of remote meter reading, long-distance transmission, and power-off, which greatly improves the power management and service level, which is unmatched by conventional meters. The ladder price will drive the market of smart meters and electricity information acquisition systems. Growth."Zheng Xiaoping believes, "But due to the different implementation plans of the electricity prices at different locations, the scheme and implementation of the smart energy meter will also be different. This will affect the clock accuracy, functional reliability, and operational stability of smart energy meters." A higher requirement was put forward.” This requirement poses challenges to the microcontroller, metering chip, and power line carrier communication modules.

At present, the single-chip microcomputer in the domestic market is mainly dominated by overseas manufacturers, while the measurement chip and the power line carrier communication module are mainly local manufacturers. In the single-chip microcomputer market for energy meters, only Fudan Microelectronics among domestic manufacturers squeezed into the top three. Japan’s Renesas Electronics market share leads. As the State Grid Corporation of China increases the procurement standards for smart meters, the microcontroller field will accelerate its reshuffle in the near future.

In the metering chip market for electric meters, the fields of single-phase meters and three-phase meters are dominated by Ruinengwei and Qiquanguang. The market share of the two companies is constantly expanding and infiltrating each other. In the power line carrier communication module market, Neusoft Carrier, Fuxing Cheng, and Mia Micro remain the top three. With the upgrading of technology and the gradual liberalization of power line designation, the market competition landscape will undergo major changes.

However, a R&D staff member of Ningbo Samsung Electronics Group stated that “some companies are also starting to make combo chips. That is, they can provide integrated measurement chips, microcontrollers, LCD drivers, and real-time clocks into system chips. Some companies also plan to The power line carrier module is also integrated. However, due to the requirements of the current domestic market, there is no such integrated chip yet."

Electronic components should have more functions. From the perspective of the future development of smart meters, the future of smart meters will be intelligent, networked, systematic, modular development, technology more integrated and integrated, the need for communication technology, measurement technology, etc. Increase investment. "With the expansion of the use of smart meters, there will be higher requirements for product reliability and manufacturability. At the same time, it also requires companies to further study and master device technology to further improve quality," said Zheng Xiaoping.

Among them, the advantages of networking can move some of the functions of the smart meter from the access layer to the network layer and the data management platform. Through the data sharing and comprehensive analysis, the functions of the smart meter can be realized and the design of the smart meter can be simplified. At present, available communication networks include: power line carrier networks, optical fiber and coaxial cable networks, fixed telephone networks, and wireless mobile networks.

"In addition, the electronic components used in the smart meter should be able to achieve the following functions, can calculate the power consumption in time-sharing, in order to be able to handle current and voltage signals; to protect data security, data encryption and decryption; transmission Data and receive instructions to implement certain communication protocols.” Zheng Xiaoping said.

It is undeniable that the core of future smart energy meters is the successful application of reliable, high-speed and low-cost communication technologies, thus providing a two-way interactive network between hundreds of millions of end users and power companies. However, at this stage, smart meters as the basic equipment of the smart grid, accurate and reliable metering is the primary problem for smart meters, and communications technology is the key to future development.

As a related product of the smart grid, on the one hand, the product itself should have the characteristics of low power consumption, and more importantly, the product and its solution should promote the more efficient use of energy.