The global smart grid market has experienced double-digit growth rates over the last five years. According to a new market study conducted by management consulting and market research firm Lucintel, the global smart grid market growth rate is likely to reach approximately US $57 billion by 2016 with a CAGR of 13 percent over the next five years.

Lucintel’s findings are presented in a report titled, “Growth Opportunities in the Global Smart Grid Market 2011-2016: Trends, Forecast, and Regional Analysis.”

Lucintel’s Industry Research Report trend scenarios and forecast statistics 2011-2016 details the industry’s drivers and challenges; analyzes smart grid market by regions, domains, and components; and also describes emerging trends and new opportunities in global smart grid market; smart grid market manufacturers’ profiles, and more.

As per the study, the growth in renewable energy generation sources and their integration into a common grid is one of the major drivers in the smart grid market. The high cost of installing smart grid components such as smart meters and sensors, and the maintenance and monitoring expenses of smart grid technology are challenging factors. Rising costs of electricity generation, government incentives to promote green energy, distribution of smart meters, and development in transmission facilities to provide energy to remote areas, however, are boosting the smart grid market.

Lucintel also said that during 2011-2016, the communication solutions segment would grow at a higher rate as compared to other segments while the test and monitoring solutions segment is expected to grow at a slower pace. The company is of the opinion that the smart grid infrastructure segment would likely have the highest market size.

As per the study, the growth rate is expected to be the highest in Asia Pacific because of higher cumulative investments in the countries of that region. Relatively, North America is expected to grow more than Europe because of higher potential in NA to install renewable energy sources with low customer penetration at present. Growth rate in ROW region is expected to be the lowest because of comparatively low energy demand and customer penetration.

Another study reveals that the huge demand for new aircraft and high composites penetration will drive significant demand for composites in the aerospace market. The report claims that the total demand for composites in commercial aerospace, regional jets, defense, general aviation, helicopter and other segments of aerospace market is expected to be worth $41.8 billion over the next 10 years.