Navigant Research has released its fourth quarter microgrid deployment tracker. The firm found that North America remains the leading region for the technique, with 54 percent of the market. Asia Pacific is next on the list with 41 percent of the market.
The firm says that it is tracking 1,681 projects with a combined yield of 16,552.8 MW. There are 126 new projects being proposed. The most noteworthy new microgrids are in Andhra Pradesh, India (100 MW), Imperial Valley, CA (83 MW) and Newcastle, Australia (80 MW).
The release says that 203.4 MW of solar capacity was added to microgrids during the quarter, which brings the worldwide total to more than 2 GW. Diesel remains the leading power source, however.
Yesterday, a blog at Energy Manager Today discussed the progress of microgrids. The bottom line is that they are gaining ground, but not without some bumps in the road. The attitude toward renewable and decentralized energy by the incoming Trump administration likely will have an impact on future progress.