Guidehouse Estimates Global Market for Interconnection Innovations Will Grow to Nearly $3B by 2032

A new report from Guidehouse Insights examines the global market for interconnection innovations.

As the world shifts from fossil fuels toward distributed energy resources (DER) and renewable energy sources, grid interconnection applications have skyrocketed. This has resulted in a backlog of applications and significant wait times at both the transmission and distribution (T&D) levels in regions around the world, particularly in the US and Europe. According to a new report from Guidehouse Insights, the annual revenue generated by interconnection innovations is expected to increase globally from $704.4 million in 2023 to over $2.8 billion in 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.7%.

"The markets for transmission system-interconnected renewable energy generation and DER are fueled by the global efforts to decarbonize electricity generation," says Dan Power, research analyst with Guidehouse Insights. "As costs for these technologies decline significantly, more are expected to enter the market in the coming years, increasing the already notable backlog of applications to connect these resources to the grid. The market for interconnection innovation technologies, which speed application and approval processes, is being driven primarily by this backlog."

In the US, new regulations around DER provide an additional driver for the interconnection innovations market, while in Europe the ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting effort to eliminate reliance on Russian natural gas spurs further market growth.

However, interconnection processes are essential to ensuring the safety and reliability of power grids, potentially leading grid operators to be hesitant to make changes. A lack of visibility and coordination between T&D system operators can also inhibit further growth of interconnection innovations. Numerous grid software vendors offer solutions capable of streamlining the interconnection process. These solutions may be specifically geared toward interconnection or may be aimed at broader grid management while offering an avenue to speed up interconnection without sacrificing safety, according to the report.

The report, Interconnection Innovations, examines the global market for interconnection innovations. Regional analyses for interconnection request applications and revenue from interconnection innovations by innovation type are presented across five major geographic regions from 2023-2032. The Asia Pacific region is expected to continue to lead the market in both revenue and interconnection request applications through 2032, and revenue from flexible interconnection is the innovation type expected to grow the fastest across all regions. An executive summary of the report is available for free download on the Guidehouse Insights website.