Global Capacity of Distributed Energy Resources to Reach Nearly 530 GW in 2026

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Electric vehicle charging and flexibility technologies are expected to outpace competing distributed energy resources solutions in the next decade.

Technology advances, business model innovation, changing regulations, and sustainability and resilience concerns have brought DER into the core of the future deployment of energy infrastructure. Encompassing a broad set of solutions that include systems and technologies designed to operate closer to customers on the electricity grid, the global proliferation of DER has begun to have a significant, and at times controversial, influence on the electricity industry. According to a new report from @NavigantRSRCH, global DER capacity is expected to grow from 132.4 GW in 2017 to 528.4 GW in 2026.

“For countries and regions that started their energy transition early, the role of distributed generation technologies will be less while the technologies that help integrate this generation will play a key role in the deployment of DER infrastructure over the forecast period,” says Roberto Rodriguez Labastida, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “In this realm, when and how the electrification of transport happens will have a significant impact on the development of DER deployments.”

Indeed, the influence of increasing DER deployments will vary in different countries and regions due to the existing and planned additions of centralized generation, according to the report. However, globally, distributed generation is expected to lead DER installations in 2017, and electric vehicle charging and flexibility technologies, such as demand response and energy storage, are expected to outpace competing solutions in the next decade.