Microgrid Deployment Tracker Identifies 2,179 New Projects

Compared to centralized power, the value microgrids provide is increasingly acknowledged by industry stakeholders. As the energy sector continues to evolve, microgrids are being employed as solutions for issues related to resiliency, renewables integration, and grid stability. In the Microgrid Deployment Tracker 1Q20 from Guidehouse Insights, several notable trends stood out across our 6,609 identified projects. This edition of the Tracker includes 2,179 new entries. The following figure is a snapshot of the share of global microgrid capacity. 

Total Microgrid Power Capacity Market Share by Region, World Markets: 1Q 2020

Source: Guidehouse Insights

Data Trends

Each rendition of the Tracker helps identify how trends are changing or being reinforced in the microgrid marketplace. Key data points include state, country, and regional data, business models, generation technology mixes, and microgrid applications. 

North America and Asia Pacific are the two leading world regions, accounting for more than two-thirds of total worldwide microgrid capacity. The two regions account for 36% and 30% of total global capacity, respectively. While these regions boast similar capacity totals, the applications of microgrids vary significantly. Asia Pacific is largely home to small-scale remote microgrids whereas North America has much higher levels of deployment in the commercial and industrial space. Guidehouse Insights expects this trend to remain as Asia Pacific continues rural electrification projects and businesses in North America are concerned with blackouts and outages, like the public safety power shutoffs experienced in California.

Other trends include the emergence of Texas as a leading microgrid state and a noticeable uptick trend in deployment of modular microgrids. 

Future Market Growth

The microgrid market is poised to continue growing. This growth comes despite the greatest attribute of microgrid technology not being adequately captured in terms of monetary value: resiliency. In the face of climate change and increasingly potent extreme weather events liable to cause power failures, mission critical facilities like hospitals, military installations, and data centers are turning to microgrids as a solution for continuous power flow. Although resiliency has not been adequately captured, US states like Connecticut, California, Alaska, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Hawaii have developed microgrid-friendly policies to further catalyze integration. 

Globally, areas with poor and failing power infrastructure and remote business operations, like mining pits, are expected to drive the microgrid market forward. Microgrids offer value that centralized power cannot and are expected to be a fundamental aspect of the energy sector as the challenges of today are faced and challenges of tomorrow arise.