China outspent the U.S. for the first time in the $15 billion smart grid market in 2013. Global smart grid investments reached $14.9 billion in 2013.  According to numbers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China spent $4.3 billion on smart grids whilst the U.S. spent 3.6 billion. Smart metering also accounted for just under half of the total smart grid spending worldwide, with distribution automation and other integrated demonstration projects rounding out the total. Read more here.