Analyst Insight: Distributed Energy Resources in Europe

The deployment of distributed energy resources (DER) will likely continue to rise in 2023. Electricity markets are becoming increasingly liberalized around the world so that non-utility generation sources and demand side resources, such as demand response, can participate, provide essential services, and receive compensation. Declining technology costs, new business models, and legislative action will likely advance new global DER capacity deployments beyond centralized generation. Software advances also enable automated load shifting and help stabilize the grid without compromising consumer comfort or productivity.

This Analyst Insight focuses on DER growth in Europe, which has been facilitated by various factors: the continued decline of DER technology costs coupled with new incentives; advances in software capability that enable additional DER use cases; and the implementation of new policies related to energy savings in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On the other hand, persisting supply chain issues and high inflation are potential barriers to market expansion.

The Guidehouse Insights Global DER Deployment Forecast Database provides a comprehensive and up-to-date database of worldwide DER deployments. It includes annual DER cumulative capacity and capacity additions by region and technology, DER revenue, and when available, additional details. The most recent tracker was published in 1Q 2023.