The global market for Microgrid Control Systems is projected to reach US$3.9 billion by 2025, driven by the rapid migration towards decentralized energy systems. The focus on sustainable energy against the backdrop of growing urgency to address climate change ranks as the primary factor driving adoption of decentralized energy systems. Other benefits offered include ability to utilize more renewable energy, reduced dependence on fossil fuels, more stable and largely lower energy prices, elimination of challenges involved in energy loss during long distance transmission, and reduced need to invest in electricity grid transmission and distribution capacity upgrades. In addition, centralized power grids are aging and suffer from grid power quality issues, and also lack the flexibility to adjust to changing energy consumption patterns worldwide. Also, with several countries worldwide legislating mandatory renewable energy targets, the move towards distributed energy infrastructure is gaining momentum as production of energy closer to consumption areas supports smaller scale generation of renewable energy. Until now, in most markets across the globe power outage and/or scheduled blackouts was the popular load shedding strategy adopted to meet peak demand. However, with rapid digitalization, electrification and electronification of modern societies such a load shedding strategy is unsustainable and detrimental to the growth of economies. As a result, there is strong focus on integrating higher shares of intermittent sources of renewable energy to meet peak demand. The scenario is leading to the development of hybrid energy systems to ensure reliable and sustainable supply of electricity. With traditional utilities stretched to the breaking point due to rapid population growth, urbanization and demands of the digital age, microgrids are the future of smart and distributed energy generation and distribution. Read More…
