Markets

Microgrid Market Growth On Pace for Tripling of Capacity by 2020

Nov. 30, 2014

Another research organization is predicting rapid microgrid market growth, this time a tripling of capacity and an increase in annual revenue of more than 20 percent over the next six years.

Elisa Wood

Another research organization is predicting rapid microgrid market growth, this time a tripling of capacity and an increase in annual revenue of more than 20 percent over the next six years.

More specifically, Transparency Market Research forecasts that the 3.6 GW of microgrid capacity operating in 2013 will grow to 9.35 GW by 2020. The report projects a compound annual growth rate of 20.7 percent, with revenue rising from $9.8 billion in 2013 to $35.2 billion by 2020.

The findings reflect similar microgrid market growth reported by Navigant Research last year. Navigant found that the market could exceed $40 billion by 2020, with much of the growth centered in the United States.

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Key players named in the Transparency Market Research report are: Chevron, Power Analytics Corp., GE Energy Management, Pareto Energy, and Siemens AG. The report also profiles ABB, Echelon Corporation, Honeywell International, Schneider Electric, S&C Electric, Toshiba, Viridity Energy, and ZBB Energy.

The report attributes market growth to factors often cited: a rise in global demand for energy, a push by governments for greater energy reliability, security and clean energy, and a lack of grid power in rural areas.

The researchers say microgrid growth also is spurred by a rise in energy storage technologies and a drop in costs for renewables that fuel remote microgrids.

Most of the growth is occuring in the grid-connected microgrid market, with campuses and institutions leading the way, thanks to government funding for renewables at these facilities. In North America, the military also is playing a key role in driving growth, the report says.

After North America, the fastest growing markets are in Asia Pacific and Europe, according to the report.

Titled, Microgrid Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2014 – 2020, the report is available for purchase here.

Also see MicrogridKnowledge.com’s new, free microgrid report, The Energy Efficient Microgrid, the second in our Think Microgrid series.

About the Author

Elisa Wood | Editor-in-Chief

Elisa Wood is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and serves as co-host of the publication’s popular conference series. She also co-founded RealEnergyWriters.com, where she continues to lead a team of energy writers who produce content for energy companies and advocacy organizations.

She has been writing about energy for more than two decades and is published widely. Her work can be found in prominent energy business journals as well as mainstream publications. She has been quoted by NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other notable media outlets.

“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.

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