Combined heat and power market gains confidence as governments prioritize climate change

Frost & Sullivan

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Flexible CHP Systems will Play a Significant Role in Grid Stabilization and Resilience, finds that government initiatives to generate energy from clean sources and the move toward carbon neutrality are key factors boosting the global combined heat and power (CHP) market. As a grid-complementary technology, the CHP market is estimated to garner US$20.85 billion by 2030 from US$13.10 billion in 2020, an uptick at a moderate compound annual growth rate of 4.8%. Annual capacities are anticipated to reach 19.55 GW over the forecast period from 12.37 GW in 2020.

“The combined impact of decentralization, decarbonization, and digitalization will drive new business models in the CHP market as flexibility will be the key in terms of adjustable electricity generation, guaranteed performance, and energy cost-savings,” said Neha Tatikota, Energy & Environment Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan in a statement. “Models that encompass guaranteed performance, including power plant-as-a-service, power purchase agreements, energy-as-a-service, and combined supply and demand-side contracts, will provide opportunities for energy, technology, and service providers to generate new revenue streams.”

Tatikota added: “As packaged CHP solutions gain traction and an increasing number of commercial and institutional (C&I) facilities familiarize themselves with the technology and its benefits (energy efficiency), demand from Europe and North America will continue to gain momentum. Further, Asia-Pacific will record the highest growth for steam and gas industrial turbines, driven by businesses looking to reduce carbon emissions and the growing adoption of CHP and combined cooling and heating power.”

Energy efficiency is a crucial market driver that supports CHP penetration, presenting lucrative growth prospects to its market participants. Areas of exploration for players include:

• Flexible business models and Solutions-as-a-Service to enable actionable intelligence: Generator manufacturers should partner with cloud providers to design cloud-hosted applications to ensure the rapid development of new functionalities for predictive maintenance and energy-efficiency solutions.
• Virtual power plants (VPPs) and the ability to access additional grid revenue: Utilities must have the required capabilities to meet the needs of private developers looking to explore CHP opportunities.
• A widespread servicing network: Partnerships with local turbine and engine manufacturers can reduce the need for large-scale investment in a region. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can train local participants to service engines and turbines on a revenue-sharing basis.
• Microgeneration growth creating macro possibilities for CHP installations: Equipment manufacturers can consider various ways in which CHP can be used more flexibly, offer more functionalities such as communication with the grid in real-time, supply electricity, and regulate as needed (up and down) to provide grid services in addition to supplying heat and electricity to facilities.