A recent report from Navigant Researchanalyzes the global VPP market, including global market forecasts for power capacity and vendor revenue, broken out by segment, region, and scenario, through 2023. 

Virtual power plants (VPPs), which employ software and IT innovations to achieve the optimum usage of grid assets while maintaining the proper balance of the electricity grid, are expected to play an increasingly important role in the future of the power sector.  As energy markets accelerate in the direction of a greater reliance upon distributed energy resources (DER), VPPs can help create an “energy cloud” business model in which anyone, anywhere can buy and sell energy services on an open market.  According to a recent report from Navigant Research, the total worldwide capacity of virtual power plants is expected to more than quintuple in the next 9 years, growing from 4,800 megawatts (MW) in 2014 to nearly 28,000 MW by 2023. 

“Combining a rich diversity of independent resources into a network via sophisticated planning, scheduling, and bidding of distributed generation-based services, virtual power plants have the potential to harness and distribute electricity in ways hardly envisioned just a few years ago,” says Peter Asmus, principal research analyst with Navigant Research.  “In order to make these markets work, though, rules need to be established to allow these transactions to flow back and forth across a common carrier grid.”

The most notable VPP segment today, according to the report, is the demand response (DR) VPP.  In an ideal world, peaks in demand can be met by ramping down loads in near real-time instead of firing up expensive, and often polluting, fossil peaking power plants.  The DR-VPP application is the largest commercial segment in the United States, which has the most mature DR market in the world.  DR is also now slowly gaining traction in Europe, and is slowly but surely taking off in Asia Pacific, as well.

The report, “Virtual Power Plants”, analyzes the global VPP market, with a focus on three primary segments: DR, supply-side, and mixed asset VPPs.  It provides an analysis of the market issues, including business cases, market drivers, and implementation challenges, associated with VPPs.  Global market forecasts for power capacity and vendor revenue, broken out by segment, region, and scenario, extend through 2023.  The report also examines the key technologies related to VPPs, as well as the competitive landscape.  An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

About Navigant Research

Navigant Research, the dedicated research arm of Navigant, provides market research and benchmarking services for rapidly changing and often highly regulated industries.  In the energy sector, Navigant Research focuses on in-depth analysis and reporting about global clean technology markets.  The team’s research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Smart Utilities, Smart Transportation, and Smart Buildings sectors.