A new report from Navigant Research analyzes the global market for distributed energy resources (DER) technologies, with forecasts for installed capacity and revenue, through 2024.DER penetration is increasing globally, causing a significant, and sometimes controversial, impact on the power and utilities sector. The rapid expansion is expected to force a major shift away from the centralized, one-way electrical grid, toward the integration of smaller power sources that can be aggregated to meet regular demand. Click to tweet: According to a new report from Navigant Research, annual installed capacity across the global DER market is expected to grow from 136.4 GW in 2015 to 530.7 GW in 2024.
“The overarching goal of DER deployments is to integrate these resources effectively in order to make the electricity grid more efficient, resilient, cost-effective, and sustainable,” says Mackinnon Lawrence, senior research director with Navigant Research. “With global DER capacity deployments expected to outpace centralized generation five-to-one by 2024, there is little doubt that technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV), energy storage, and demand response will force an unprecedented restructuring of grid architecture and utility business models.”
In many markets, DER deployments are challenging incumbent grid operating models, requiring a more dynamic network with advanced communications and orchestration to ensure stability, efficiency, and equality, according to the report. Given the diversity of available DER technologies and rapidly declining costs, most countries are expected to see more new DER capacity deployed than centralized generation capacity in the coming decade, especially solar PV, generator sets, and energy storage.
