According to a new report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from all forms of residential distributed generation and energy storage will grow from $52.7 billion annually in 2014 to $71.6 billion in 2023.
Solar photovoltaic panels are the most visible form of the broad disruption caused by distributed energy resources (DER), Navigant says. The growing affordability of DER technologies is altering utilities' traditional relationship with residential customers by giving customers greater control of their energy consumption.
One key driver for this sector, according to the report, is continuing advances in new technologies, such as more efficient energy storage systems (ESS). These advances, along with government subsidies for ESS, often in the form of feed-in tariffs, are enabling the combination of rooftop solar PV systems and residential energy storage in order to collect and store energy for use when sunlight is unavailable or there is a power outage.
‘Rooftop solar PV is just one of the technologies that are transforming the traditional residential power industry,’ says Neil Strother, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. ‘Some of these technologies, such as residential combined heat and power, are in the early stages of market development, while solar panels are more mature. Nonetheless, these energy innovations and attractive financing mechanisms provide residential customers with new options.’
An executive summary of the report is available here.
