December 13th, 2015
Looking ahead, Navigant expects technological advances and cost declines will continue. The need to customize installations for particular customers and conditions will persist, however. That will constrain developers’ ability to replicate systems widely, as well as hinder overall industry scalability, according to Navigant.
Developing standardized ¨plug n’ play¨ microgrid solutions designed to meet the needs of clusters of customer, geographic and market types may afford one way around the issue. Regulators could ease the way forward by instituting market rules that enable project developers and investors to monetize the various benefits microgrids can provide.
That said, the microgrid market could remain small, fragmented, with developers specializing in designing highly customized systems that meet the needs of individual customers.
Along this line, the combination of building building-scale ¨nanogrids¨ and grid-scale storage solutions may afford developers an opportunity to earn returns attractive enough to justify making investments, Navigant says.