The days of the conventional electricity power grid are numbered and business opportunity, pragmatism and the need to better monitor both use and users of electricity have combined to raise the prospect of a multi-billion dollar industry growing worldwide.

A report by Pike Research, based in Boulder, Colo., said global investment in replacing antiquated systems with Smart Grid technologies could total $200 billion by 2015.

Pike Research specializes in analysis of global clean technology markets, including demand assessment and technology trends.

Although electricity has served as the foundation for numerous technological innovations, the electrical grid itself is based on decades-old technology that has attracted very little investment.

This is about to change, Pike Research said. "Governments and industry leaders are coming together with new-found urgency to drive an overhaul of grid infrastructure," the research consultancy said.

It said the spending projection was based on estimates for 2008-15.

"Our analysis shows that utilities will find the best return on investment and, therefore, will devote the majority of their capital budgets to grid infrastructure projects, including transmission upgrades, substation automation and distribution automation."

Smart meters are the highest-profile component of the Smart Grid but they do not tell the whole story. Clint Wheelock, Pike Research managing director, said utilities were set to pour more investment into upgrading and automation to better monitor and manage the grids with the aim of enhancing revenue.

The huge investment forecast is defended by industry analysts who see revenues of the energy industry sectors that employ Smart Grid increasing over the coming years.

Pike Research said Smart Grid revenues would peak in 2013 after several years of a strong push by governments and thereafter will lead to a smaller but still very substantial market.

Analysts said some of the greatest investments in Smart Grid technologies could come from countries that have the spending power as well as the incentive to switch to clean energy at the fastest possible rate.

Alongside the planned switchover to Smart Grid technologies in the United States and other industrialized countries, U.S. Department of Energy officials have drawn attention to the security aspects of the shift.

Security analysts recently warned that sufficient safeguards have to be in place to make sure that Smart Grid systems are not exposed to cybercrime or, worse, cyberterrorism.

Cybersecurity experts have said the advanced technological systems being installed under the Smart Grid programs run the risk of being penetrated by hackers, criminals and terrorist gangs intent upon disabling electricity supply for entire population centers, with serious implications for national security.