Friday 22 December 2017

Distributed energy resources ‘to quadruple by 2026’

The global capacity of distributed energy resources (DER) will reach nearly 530GW in 2026.

That's according to a new report from Navigant Research, which suggests the predicted growth from 132.4GW this year to 528.4GW in 2026 will be led by electric vehicle charging and demand side response technologies over the next decade.

It says the shift towards decentralised power represents a major shift from the centralised, one-way electrical grid and warns utilities they will need to adapt or be left behind.

The group believes technologies like solar power, microturbines, fuel cells and storage systems will redefine the relationship between utilities and consumers by putting more power back in the hands of the customer.

Roberto Rodriguez Labastida, Senior Research Analyst at Navigant Research, said: "For countries and regions that started their energy transition early, the role of distributed generation technologies will be less while the technologies that help integrate this generation will play a key role in the deployment of DER over the forecast period.

"In this realm, when and how the electrification of transport happens will have a significant impact on the development of DER deployments."