The energy industry is poised for what some describe as a sizable investment shift. Oil and gas lose, and power wins with the growing electrification of transportation and buildings. So what does this mean for microgrids?
Mark Feasel, vice president of smart grid, Schneider Electric, offered insight in a recent interview leading up to Microgrid 2019, where Feasel will be a featured panelist.
Move over oil and gas. Here comes electrification
Electricity use is on the rise. Despite massive infusions of energy efficiency, demand for power grew 4% last year, its fastest pace since 2010 when it received a jolt as the global economy recovered from the financial crisis.
And that’s just the start, given long-term growth expected as the world increasingly uses electricity to run cars and heat and cool buildings. A federal study sees potential in the US for an “unprecedented” rise in electricity use from 2016–2050 — 80 TWh/year compared with 50–55 TWh/year over the prior 34 years.
For the oil and gas industries, this mean loss of market share to the power sector. Electricity already eclipsed those fuels globally in 2017 in terms of new infrastructure investment, drawing $750 billion compared to the oil and gas sector’s $715 billion.
How to get the electricity to the charging stations?
As demand for electricity grows, so does the need for new infrastructure to deliver it — more wires, poles and substations to serve the electric vehicle charging stations that will replace gas stations.
Will utilities — which invest via slow-moving regulatory oversight — be able to build infrastructure quickly enough to serve electric vehicle demand? Not alone, Feasel said. That’s where independently built microgrids come into play.
“I do expect regulated utilities to serve the electric vehicle segment in a major, major way,” Feasel said. “But the segment’s going to be so big — and some of it is starting to emerge so fast — the microgrid is going to have to be the answer.”
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