The increasing consumption of conventional energy sources such as natural gas and oil products are one of the most prime issues and concern of 21st century. The limited availability of conventional energy sources has raise awareness about using other non-conventional and alternative energy sources. In coming years society is expected to experience an increased preference towards adoption of alternative energy sources such wind, solar and tidal. Solar energy is one of the most abundant and vastly available non-conventional energy sources

Smart solar technology is the improvement on existing solar technology with enhanced functionality of components and ability to synchronize with the currently available systems. It offers improved functionality, operational efficiencies, optimized performance and low maintainability. Smart technology provides optimal utilization of available energy, resources with dramatically lower wastage. It enables components with real time monitoring, analytics and communication efficiency, which enables them to deliver improved operational performance and control. Increasing demands for efficient non-conventional energy management solutions across the globe in both developing and developed regions in coming years, will provide ample opportunity of growth for various smart solar solutions and services providers.

Increasing regulatory compliances and government initiatives for adopting non-conventional energy sources along with increasing electricity tariffs and gas prices are some of the factors that are driving the smart solar market. High initial investment cost, low awareness about technology and low Return on Investment (RoI) are few of the reasons that may slow down the adoption of smart solutions among various industry verticals and domains. Evolving solar technology, growing environmental awareness and concerns are among the factors that are expected to provide high opportunities for various smart solar market players that are operating in this particular market.

The smart solar market is segmented on the basis of solutions into network monitoring, remote metering, meter data management, analytics, outage management and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). Further, on the basis of service the global smart solar market is segmented into consulting services, support and maintenance services, system integration and deployment services and demand response services. The smart solar market is also divided on the basis of application residential and commercial & industrial. The smart solar market is bifurcated on the basis of industry vertical into Utilities, Construction, Agriculture, Education, Government and others. The global smart solar market is also bifurcated on the basis of regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa.

North America holds one of the largest share in the global smart solar market. High technical early adoption trends for improving efficiency and high awareness among end users in North American region has fueled the growth of the smart solar market. Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing smart solar market and provides lucrative opportunity for various solutions vendors, due to growing awareness, high government initiative for using non-conventional sources.

Some of the key players operating in the global smart solar market are.GE Power, Schneider Electric, ABB Group, Echelon Corporation, Siemens AG, Urban Green Energy (UGE) International, Silver Spring Networks Inc., Sensus USA, Inc. , Landis+GYR AG , Itron Inc. among others.