Pike report outlines potential of distributed generation

• 11 years ago (2012-08-17)
• Junior Isles

Renewables 752

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A new report from Pike Research has cast doubt on the sustainability of traditional centralised power generation, transmission, and distribution. The report claims this conventional power model is becoming more costly to maintain, compared with distributed alternatives, particularly given the expansion required to meet the needs of growing populations.

Renewable distributed energy generation (RDEG) sources such as distributed solar PV, small wind power, and stationary fuel cells all have less need for transmission networks, have little to no emissions, and are therefore well positioned to disrupt the traditional power paradigm, according to the report.

RDEG currently represents lower than one per cent of total worldwide generating capacity, but will nearly triple between 2012 and 2017, the report estimates, reaching 63.5 GW of new generation a year in 2017. A total of almost 232 GW of distributed renewable will be added over that five-year period.

"In a growing number of cases around the world, renewable distributed generation technologies are more cost-effective than centralised installations that require transmission to population centres," says research analyst Dexter Gauntlett.

"In many ways, momentum is shifting to distributed, renewable sources that give consumers more control over the electricity they consume and generate. But in order to reach its full potential, the renewable distributed energy sector will require continued innovation in business models, technology development, utility participation, and investment in an uncertain economic climate."

Pike estimates the majority of new RDEG installations will be solar PV, since manufacturers have delivered on their promise to drive down costs and scale up production. Worldwide solar PV module production capacity reached an estimated 50 GW by the end of 2011, the report says, and module costs in 2011 were 25 per cent of those in 2006, at $1.00 per watt. New solar PV additions will total 210 GW from 2012 to 2017, the report predicts.