June 13, 2012
Demand for energy in the developing world, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, is expected to grow in tandem with projected increases in human population and rising living standards among the chronically poor. Demand for energy, especially electricity, is growing much more rapidly in these nascent economies than the rate of expansion of conventional electricity grids in the major industrialized world. A recent report from Pike Research finds that remote microgrids are ideally suited to help meet this surging appetite for more power, without increasing carbon emissions.
The global remote microgrid market will expand from 349 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity in 2011 to over 1.1 gigawatts (GW) by 2017, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts, translating into total projected revenue for the sector of more than $10.2 billion by 2017.
“A widening recognition of the contribution renewable energy makes to rural development, lower health costs (linked to air pollution), energy independence, and climate change mitigation is shifting renewable energy from the fringe to the mainstream of sustainable economics,” says senior analyst Peter Asmus. “Remote microgrids can serve as the anchors of new, appropriate scale infrastructure, a shift to smarter ways to deliver humanitarian services to the poor.”
While remote microgrids actually represent the most commercially advanced of the microgrid sectors, they are still flying under the radar for many investors and vendors. That is changing as large companies active in a broad range of microgrid markets eye this sector, among them firms such as General Electric. The purchase of Powercorp of Darwin, Australia by Swiss transmission and distribution giant ABB is a clear sign that larger, well-capitalized companies are beginning to recognize this sleeping giant of a microgrid market.
Pike Research’s report, “Remote Microgrids”, analyzes the global market opportunity for remote microgrids in several key segments including village power systems, weak grid island systems, industrial remote mine systems, and mobile military microgrids. The study examines the market issues and demand drivers associated with adoption of microgrids for remote applications, assesses technology and implementation issues, and profiles the key industry players that are engaged in this fast-growing market. Market forecasts, segmented by application and world region, are provided for generation capacity and revenue growth through 2017. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.
Contact: Richard Martin
+1 303 997 7609