Metering Latin America will gather more than 1500 smart meter and smart grid experts in São Paulo in August as Brazil prepares to upgrade 65-million meters to the tune of 36-billion dollars in smart meter and smart grid technology.

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As a preview to this week's event, I wanted to share with you the exclusive interview I recently conducted with the keynote speaker Pavel Cyrani, Chief Strategy Officer of CEZ, Czech Republic, exploring the strategic opportunities for the CEE region in the field of smart metering and smart grids. This interview gives you a snapshot of his upcoming presentation at Smart Utilities Central & Eastern Europe 2012.

As Europe edges closer to the 2020 EU targets, we are presented by a vastly complex interplay of factors: from geopolitical and economic forces that heavily influence low carbon agendas to smart grids, consumer, policy and technology that facilitate them.

Smart Grids.  Smart Metering.  If you are the kind of person who is regularly to be found around conferences where utilities and especially power supplies issues are discussed, you will be familiar with these words. In fact, you may even be one of those people who uses these terms quite frequently and relishes the easy way that the words roll off your tongue.

The energy challenges confronting Europe and the world today require urgent and ambitious decisions by politicians and industry alike. While Europe does have a comprehensive energy and climate agenda, it will take decades to put our energy system onto a sustainable and secure path if public awareness is not sufficiently raised, energy / climate policies remain uncoordinated, and finance is not forthcoming.

Smart Utilities Central & Eastern Europe 2012 is taking place in less than 2 weeks. Can you afford not to be there?

Key energy figures, the likes of Krzyszt of Gierulski of the European Commission, Pavel Cyrani of CEZ, Marek Wasowski of the Smart Grids Power Consortium Poland and Ilario Tito of ENEL, will be debating the accelerating trends shaping CEE’s smart energy future. And you can be part of it!

50% increase of electrical energy demand in the next 20 years – will demands exceed network capabilities?

The electrical energy demand is expected to grow with 50% in the upcoming 20 years. As a result, network operators will have to invest in their infrastructure to ensure security of energy supply. The difficult task to match supply and demand will raise some tough questions. Nobody really knows what the impact of the smart energy transformation will be. However, one thing is clear - network investments have to be made to move forward.

Utilities are therefore forced to make massive strategic decisions in terms of:

Are you ready for the transition to a smart energy economy?

If so, take part in the number one new energy event of the year!
 
Already in its 14th year, Metering, Billing/CRM Europe 2012 is the most established event for smart utility professionals and is co-located with the 3rd annual Smart Homes Europe conference and exhibition.

It is clear that the upcoming years will be crucial for further development of the smart grid market. Although the smart grid concept offers massive opportunities, the challenges ahead cannot be forgotten.

216 participants attended the conference and exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark on 20-21 March 2012.
 
We thank everyone for their feedback and invite you to read our event report here.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invests a record of €2.6 billion in sustainable energy projects in 2011 and boosts its key climate change initiative, in a continuing response to the need for its region to increase energy efficiency and move towards a low-carbon growth model. Source: EBRD February 2012.

How to set the priorities in future CEE smart energy infrastructure investments is just one of the hot topics that will be discussed at the Smart Utilities Central & Eastern Europe conference in Prague from 15-16 May.

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Full conference programme for Smart Utilities Central & Eastern Europe 2012 now available

The much anticipated and freshly defined conference programme for Smart Utilities Central & Eastern Europe 2012 taking place in Prague, Czech Republic, is now available. Please take a minute to check out the 2012 agenda featuring 30+ smart utility professionals and industry thought leaders highlighting the business opportunities in the CEE smart energy landscape.

The 2-day conference programme will give you insights in the challenges facing the CEE power supply sector: