MICROGRIDS GO GLOBAL

Microgrid Enabling Technologies; Distributed Generation, Advanced Energy Storage, Smart Islanding Inverters, Automated Demand Response, Electric Vehicle Charging, and Microgrid Software Controls: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts

4Q 2012 (Pike Research/Navigant)

“Microgrids are beginning to move more into the mainstream of the power generation and distribution industry, with…necessary (and quite substantial) investments in distributed generation (DG)…[N]ew microgrids will increasingly rely not only upon new DG installations, but also on other microgrid enabling technologies, including smart islanding inverters, advanced energy storage, internal forms of automated demand response (ADR), and other technologies…

“…Pike Research views the microgrid as a building block of the ultimate smart grid designed to serve the needs of energy producers, consumers, and distribution utilities…[T]hese enabling technologies will be critical to the success of smart grid projects in both mature markets and developing economies.”

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“With the exception of ADR, all of the enabling technology components profiled in this report show continued growth, with the various forms of distributed generation (combined heat and power, fuel cells, solar photovoltaic (PV), and distributed wind) showing the largest capacity growth and revenue…

“Pike Research’s analysis also concludes that microgrids are among the best near-term markets for advanced energy storage, and will help increase demand for smart bi-directional inverters that can perform the islanding function. By far the largest investments in microgrid enabling technologies are in different forms of DG, including CHP, fuel cells, solar PV, and different forms of distributed wind. Combined, these four technologies will total more than 3,978 megawatts (MW) of new generation capacity valued at more than $12.7 billion in vendor revenues in 2018…”

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