Utilities Forced to Review Their Business Models

LONDON, Sept. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Renewable and localised generation is having a massive impact on the European power market, forcing utilities to change their business models to survive. In the meantime, the development of storage technologies is going further up the investment agenda. The global energy storage lithium battery market is forecast to go from $ 442 million 2013 to $ 28.7 billion 2020. However, coal will continue to dominate the global markets at least until 2030 while gas is becoming the fuel of the future.

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This and much more is discussed in a new Frost & Sullivan's study on the Key Trends in the Global Power & Energy Market that will be published during the coming weeks. Senior Consultant Jonathan Robinson - who has been working on the analysis - will present some of the findings during an online conference that will take place on Thursday 25 September, 2014 at 2 pm BST.

During the briefing, Mr Robinson will highlight the key trends and challenges faced by the sector in the coming years. To register and attend the conference and to know more about this new Frost & Sullivan's analysis, please contact Chiara Carella, Corporate Communications, at [email protected]. A recorded version will also be available after the briefing.

According to this new study, the growth of renewables has been subsidy driven, therefore first picked up in developed countries (Germany, Japan, US). Asian countries have been capturing a larger share of wind and solar power annual installations in the last 5 years. China and India are leading the renewable energy development in Asia; however, other nations are catching up as renewable energy costs are falling down

However, despite a massive growth for renewable energy markets, coal will remain the main source of generating global electricity in 2030. Pollution and carbon issues remain, but in many regions there is no viable alternative to satisfying consistently growing electricity demand without requiring major increases in electricity prices and threatening security of supply.

From an equipment standpoint, the global gas market is recovering, with increasing order volumes from China, Japan, South Korea, Latin America and the US, and consistently high orders from the Middle East. Europe is the notable exception, with order volumes staying very low, and Russian investment has also stalled. Natural gas prices are below their peak, but remain high, except in the case of the United States. Despite the current issues in Europe, gas is clearly a fuel of the future, with global consumption forecast to increase by 65 percent between 2010 and 2040, driving both investments in exploration, but also for equipment.

The majority of countries in Europe do allow shale gas, but restrictions are in place. Local campaigns against drilling are strong and could derail projects in future. Apart from the US where shale gas that is shaking up the energy market, it will be at least a decade before shale gas has a significant impact on global gas supply.

With the exception of Europe, the prospects for gas-fired generation continue to be strong. China and India are both keen to diversify away from reliance on coal, and North American utilities want to gain as much as advantage as possible from expectations of consistently low gas prices.

The presentation will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with the analyst.

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Corporate Communications – Europe
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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan