Electric power equipment demand to exceed $85 billion in 2008
By Control Engineering Staff -- Control Engineering, 6/1/2004
Cleveland, OH—Worldwide demand for equipment used in electronic power transmission and distribution is projected to increase by 4.5% annually though 2008, reaching $85.7 billion. The largest regional markets for electric power equipment will remain Asia/Pacific, North America, and Western Europe. While the main product categories—transformers, switchgear, and switchboard apparatus—will register similar gains, certain products within these categories will perform better than others, according to a new study, World Electric Power Equipment, by Freedonia Group Inc., an industrial market research firm.
Heightened use of electric machinery, automation systems, computers, security systems and other sensitive electronic equipment is expected to bolster sales of advanced switchgear systems and power circuit breakers capable of monitoring and controlling incoming electric power. However, the study also found that high-voltage transformers, traditionally used almost exclusively by utilities, will become more common in other industrial markets because of increased cogeneration, especially in industrialized nations.
Freedonia's study also projects that the Asia/Pacific region is projected to have the strongest increase in demand for electric power equipment among all regions. Asia/Pacific is home to more than 55% of the world's population, and a sizeable portion presently live in areas without electricity. Robust economic growth in developing nations, such as China and India, combined with rapid urbanization and increased spending on infrastructure, including roads and electricity, will boost demand for electric power equipment. The developed Japanese market, however, is expected to continue posting below-average gains through 2008.
Meanwhile, North American and Western European markets also are expected to perform below the global average. Both regions have relatively large, mature markets for electric power equipment. In Western Europe, growth in demand for electric power equipment will be hampered by negligible population gains through 2008. However, another major blackout in these regions, similar to the one that affected parts of the U.S. and Canada in 2003, could alter this forecast because consumers likely would force significant upgrades in national systems.
Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
jmontague@reedbusiness.com
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