Green Energy Market Overview
Major trend being witnessed in the global green energy market is increased investment in the development of power projects associated with clean and green energy. Owing to the limited availability of the conventional fuels such as oil, gas, and coal along with associated pollution released by consumption of these fuel sources, a large number of countries are investing in clean energy sources including solar energy, hydropower, wind energy, biofuels, and geothermal energy. These resources are abundant in nature and are environment-friendly. Owing to their advantages, there has been a rising trend of increased investments in the green energy projects.
On the basis of type, the green energy market is categorized into solar photovoltaic (PV), wind energy, hydroelectric power, biofuels, and geothermal energy. Globally, hydroelectric power is one of the largest sources of green power as it fulfills about 15–21% demand for electricity, depending on capacity factors.
Solar PV system is a combination of inverters such as string inverters, micro inverters, and central inverters which stores the power generated from PV cells. However, wind energy can be further subcategorized on the basis of type of wind energy turbines into horizontal axis wind turbines and vertical axis wind turbines. Focus on promoting clean energy sources is expected to result in further deployment of clean energy projects, thereby boosting the green energy market in the coming years.
Biofuels green energy market is further categorized into biodiesel and bioethanol. During the forecast period, bioethanol had larger market share, and the U.S. and Brazil were the largest producers of bioethanol. However, biodiesel production was dominated by Europe, where Germany and France were the largest biodiesel producers, globally. Geothermal energy in another green energy source that is primarily used for either electricity generation or direct usage. Energy conservation systems in geothermal energy are flash steam, binary cycle, and dry steam.
Based on region, the green energy market is categorized into Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. Among all the regions, Asia-Pacific held a significant share in the market, driven by growing large scale development of solar powered projects in countries such as China, India, Japan, and other APAC countries across the tropic of cancer. The large-scale deployment of solar projects is expected to boost the market during the forecast period.
Green Energy Market Dynamics
Driver
Major driver identified in the green energy market is governments’ initiatives to promote the green energy sources. Owing to advantages of green energy projects as cleaner power sources, countries across the world are opting for various initiatives such as subsidies to green energy projects, restricting the expansion conventional power projects, and target-based growth of these projects. Countries such as China and India aim to meet a significant proportion of energy requirements from green energy projects, which in turn, is boosting the market growth.
Restraint
Major restraint identified in the green energy market is the intermittent nature of certain green energy sources including solar energy and wind energy. Owing to their intermittency, the solar and wind power projects cannot be used as per their full capacity as power load factor of such projects reduce to climatic conditions. Moreover, the intermittent nature of these projects also affects the grid stability, thereby acting as a major restraint.
Opportunity
Aggressive biodiesel initiatives and emergence of new feedstocks are the opportunities for the green energy market. Some of the factors contributing to the growing focus on the clean sources are rising need for energy security, climate change, and environmental issues caused by burning petrol-based products. Moreover, opting for biofuels results in long-term cost reduction as these fuels are clean, more efficient, and renewable in nature. Owing to such benefits, the biodiesel and other biofuels offer growth opportunity in the market.
Green Energy Market — Competitive Landscape
The green energy market is characterized by both multinational corporations and domestic companies. Also, companies engaged in producing advanced green energy technologies are start-ups backed by venture capitalist firms as well as the government agencies. Some of the major players operating in the global market are Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd., Hanwha Q Cells GmbH, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd., Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., Archer Daniels Midland Company, Aventine Renewable Energy Inc, JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd., Suzlon Energy Ltd., U.S. Geothermal Inc., Kyocera Solar Inc., Enphase Energy Inc., Trina Solar Ltd., Calpine Corporation, and First Solar Inc.
The study provides the historical as well the forecast market size data for various countries, including the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Japan, China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
