A new report from Guidehouse Insights exploring the global microgrid market notes that customers in all business segments are increasingly evaluating the benefits of microgrids as retail electricity rates rise, costs for distributed energy resources continue to decline, and adverse events causing grid outages (e.g., natural disasters) increase in frequency.
According to the report, total annual implementation spending to deploy new microgrids is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.0% from 2023 to 2032, reaching $55.3 billion by 2032, with Asia Pacific as the leading market in terms of total spending.
"The microgrid market is gaining traction globally as power supply resilience becomes more important to end users. Decarbonisation efforts have created a focus on microgrids that leverage renewable energy generation plus energy storage with a fossil fuel backup generator, all managed by a localised control system capable of operating the assets in concert with or islanded from the utility grid," comments Dan Power, research analyst with Guidehouse Insights. "At the same time, resilience and automation trends have created a market for smart genset-based microgrids that provide enhanced backup solutions and, increasingly, support to the grid."
Advances in controllers and declining costs for distributed energy resources, including energy storage technologies, are driving market growth. Lack of energy access for rural populations around the world is seen as a key opportunity for microgrid expansion. Although supply chain issues may affect cost trends, Guidehouse Insights anticipates overall progress in microgrid adoption globally.
Integrators and developers are also focused on offering innovative financing mechanisms to consumers for projects that are not financed through the host's or developer's balance sheet. This can allow developers to offer their solutions with no upfront capital requirement for the consumer via an energy as a service (EaaS) type contract in which system ownership and operation are outsourced to the integrator or developer.
The report, ‘Microgrid Markets’, analyses market potential, including deployments and spending, for all major microgrid segments (commercial and industrial, community, campus/institutional, stationary military base, remote, and utility distribution microgrids) over a 10-year outlook period through 2032. Analyses are broken down by global region as well as business model (EaaS, government, owner financing, utility rate base, and other). A summary of the report is available for free download on the Guidehouse Insights website..
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