BOULDER - Annual revenue in the smart-grid industry will grow to $73 billion by 2020, according to a new forecast.

The report, compiled by Boulder-based Pike Research, a division of Navigant Consulting's global energy practice, said smart-grid technologies still constitute an immature market but already total $33 billion in annual revenue.

A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology with two-way communications to control appliances to reduce energy consumption.

Key drivers in the sector include the integration of renewable-energy sources in developed economies and the reduction of nontechnical losses in less-developed economies.

The report profiles the key players in smart-grid technologies in eight categories: influential utilities, control system vendors, telecommunications vendors, smart-metering vendors, application and services vendors, systems integrators, cyber-security vendors, and standards associations.

Smart-grid technologies include transmission upgrades, substation automation, distribution automation, smart-grid information technology and operation technology, and smart metering. Many complex smart-grid programs based on these technologies have begun, but the scale of what remains to be done is enormous, according to the report.

A number of countries with populations of more than 100 million have not yet seen notable smart-grid deployment activity, and Africa, with its population of 1 billion, has seen very little at all. All of this suggests that the market is likely to continue robust growth beyond 2020, the report said.

The full report is online at http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/smart-grid-technologies.