South Asian countries of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal to invest $8.1bn in smart grid infrastructure to modernize power sectors

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- South Asian countries' power sectors are struggling due to increasing pressure from rising electricity demand, failure to collect revenue and poor reliability. With the aid of multilateral and bilateral lending organizations, these countries will make significant investments in smart grid infrastructure over the next decade to modernize their grids, particularly in the metering segment. Smart grid investment is projected to total $8.1 billion over the period 2016-2026 with additional investment in prepaid metering, according to a new study published today by Northeast Group, LLC.

"The South Asian region is facing a number of challenges, including the highest transmission and distribution (T&D) loss rates and highest projected GDP growth rates of any region in the world," according to Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. "There are already large-scale plans to address these challenges, including a $177 million AMI investment plan in Pakistan and a target to deploy prepaid meters to all residential customers in Bangladesh."

The four South Asian countries covered in the study–Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal–all have low per-capita consumption and a history of stalled power sector projects. But many of these hurdles will be overcome through large-scale funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and bi-lateral aid organizations such as USAID and the German KfW. The ADB in particular has pledged nearly $1bn in aid for overall power sector development in Pakistan. Additionally, large-scale smart grid plans in India will have positive spillovers in the region.  

Both local and international vendors are active in projects throughout the region. Major global vendors such as EDMI/Osaki, GE, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Secure Meters, and others are all involved in the region's activity. There is also an increasing presence of Chinese vendors pursuing projects. Local vendors are led by the Pakistani vendor MicroTech, as well as several Bangladeshi vendors active in the country's prepaid rollout.

Northeast Group's South Asia Smart Grid: Market Forecast (2016-2026) study is 76-pages long and comes with an executive summary presentation in PowerPoint and a dataset in Excel. To order a copy of the study, please visit: www.northeast-group.com

ABOUT: Northeast Group, LLC is a Washington, DC-based smart infrastructure market intelligence firm. www.northeast-group.com

SOURCE Northeast Group, LLC