Analyst Insight: A Hybrid Future for Onshore Renewables

Hybrid renewable energy projects and the colocation of renewable sources serve similar functions. These two types of projects hope to achieve 24/7 renewable energy output using the complementary generation profiles of solar, wind, and storage. However, colocation might file separate interconnection requests for each unit, whereas hybrid projects require only a single interconnection, which can lead to more flexible market participation and a higher capacity value. Combining both solar and wind with energy storage allows project developers to maximize the revenue generation from a given amount of land and grid interconnection. Additionally, hybrid projects can reduce transmission and spread installation and permitting costs across the resources.

However, hybrid approaches can complicate the interconnection process and wholesale market operations. Sites need adequate wind and solar resources, enough land, and available transmission capacity. Although those three conditions do not exist everywhere, the growing number of new projects is demonstrating the viability of this model.

This Guidehouse Insights Analyst Insight report provides an overview of the market including market inflection trends, market drivers and barriers, global energy storage market forecasts, regional market analysis of energy storage capacity, and key recommendations for stakeholders in the energy storage industry. The report covers data from the Energy Storage Tracker 2Q21.