New Report from NanoMarkets’ Smart Grid Analysis Sees Strong Prospects for Electricity Microgrids

GLEN ALLEN, Va.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Giants such as Cisco, GE, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Siemens and Verizon, will join smaller specialist firms pursuing a Microgrid market opportunity that will reach $1.8 billion by 2015. So says a new report, MICROGRID MARKETS AND OPPORTUNITIES, just published by Smart Grid Analysis (SGA); NanoMarkets’ group dedicated to analyzing emerging market and technology opportunities in the Smart Grid.

SGA, which is based here, has also published Smart Grid industry analysis reports on energy storage, cables and insulators, and smart grid sensors and will soon have additional reports that will analyze the market for transmission and distribution equipment, renewable energy integration, and Smart Grid markets in Asia and Europe.

Key findings the report:

• More than 40% of the market opportunity in the Microgrid space will be represented by one application; institutional/campus installations. According to NanoMarkets’ SGA’s projections, these will generate almost $775 million by 2015. In the past smaller institutions that have investigated deploying Microgrids have found them cost prohibitive. However, SGA predicts that the cost per MW for campus/institutional networks will decline about 15 percent between now and 2015, making Microgrids economically viable for smaller institutions including colleges, hospitals and military/police facilities.

• Although, Microgrid news has often emphasized developments in Europe and the developing world, NanoMarkets’ SGA expects that well over half of the Microgrid market will come from the North America over the next decade. There are several reasons for this. One is that some large U.S. universities have had primitive Microgrids in place for some time, so the concept is well established. In addition, the growing demands for power quality in North America will be more economically provided by Microgrids than by installing more generating capacity. Finally, the U.S. will experience robust military Microgrid growth as part of the military's Energy Surety and Net Zero Carbon Footprint. By 2015, North American Microgrid revenues will reach over $1.0 billion.

• The technological immaturity of the Microgrid concept has resulted in a high value being placed on certain specialized Microgrid-related products and services. Specialist Microgrid firms that NanoMarkets’ SGA has identified as successfully playing to this opportunity include Balance Energy, BPL Global, Encorp, NSEE, Pareto Energy, Valence Energy, and Viridity Energy. And according to SGA, offerings that the Microgrid market is especially looking for from such firms are automation of power resources, energy management, modeling and energy simulations, demand/response management and energy trading platforms. In other words, the opportunities are similar to those found in the Smart Grid as a whole, but scaled to the needs of the Microgrid in terms of price and performance.

About the report:

This must-read report from NanoMarkets provides a full and detailed analysis of Microgrid-related markets and covers hardware software and services. This is a worldwide study and it discusses major Microgrid projects around the world as well as providing a forecast of Microgrid revenues by both geography and applications. Applications covered in the report include institutional/campus, premium power park, residential/communities, off-grid (both in mature and emerging economies) and military. A full set of eight-year forecasts are included broken down by both application and geography. In addition to the companies mentioned above this report also mentions the Microgrid-related activity of Active Power, AEP, ATK, Axion, BC Hydro, Beacon Power, Capstone Turbine Chevron, C&D, ConEd, East Penn Manufacturing, EnerSys, Essent, Exide, Firefly, Furukawa, Himiq, Infotility, Innoventive Power, Maxwell, NGK, Prudent Energy, San Diego Gas and Power, Tecogen and ZBB.

About Smart Grid Analysis:

The mission of Smart Grid Analysis is to provide comprehensive and actionable industry analysis of the emerging Smart Grid market that clients can leverage to meet their business and technology objectives. The data is available in our market research reports, white papers and consulting engagements or through one-on-one engagements with our analysts. Visit us on the web at www.smartgridanalysis.com.

About NanoMarkets:

NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging market opportunities created by developments in advanced materials. Visit www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets' reports and other services.