The global market for Microgrid Control Systems is projected to reach US$3.9 billion by 2025, driven by the rapid migration towards decentralized energy systems. The focus on sustainable energy against the backdrop of growing urgency to address climate change ranks as the primary factor driving adoption of decentralized energy systems. Other benefits offered include ability to utilize more renewable energy, reduced dependence on fossil fuels, more stable and largely lower energy prices, elimination of challenges involved in energy loss during long distance transmission, and reduced need to invest in electricity grid transmission and distribution capacity upgrades. In addition, centralized power grids are aging and suffer from grid power quality issues, and also lack the flexibility to adjust to changing energy consumption patterns worldwide. Also, with several countries worldwide legislating mandatory renewable energy targets, the move towards distributed energy infrastructure is gaining momentum as production of energy closer to consumption areas supports smaller scale generation of renewable energy. Until now, in most markets across the globe power outage and/or scheduled blackouts was the popular load shedding strategy adopted to meet peak demand. However, with rapid digitalization, electrification and electronification of modern societies such a load shedding strategy is unsustainable and detrimental to the growth of economies. As a result, there is strong focus on integrating higher shares of intermittent sources of renewable energy to meet peak demand. The scenario is leading to the development of hybrid energy systems to ensure reliable and sustainable supply of electricity. With traditional utilities stretched to the breaking point due to rapid population growth, urbanization and demands of the digital age, microgrids are the future of smart and distributed energy generation and distribution.

There is increased establishment of microgrids in areas rich in green sources of power such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. These local grids are then integrated into the main utility grid. Integrating and balancing renewable energy creates challenges in dynamics, control and automation of electrical power systems. This pushes up the need for sophisticated energy management system (EMS) and distribution management system (DMS) for reliable integration, management and control of multi-tiered energy systems. As the issues related to integration and control of microgrids increase in complexity, the need for energy management and control systems will become greater and poised to benefit are microgrid control systems. Another exciting trend in the market is the increase in private deployment of microgrids. With power interruptions and blackouts becoming increasingly common and frequent as a result of extreme weather conditions compounded by aging energy infrastructure, there is a clear preference and migration away from grid-tied solar panels towards private microgrids fully independent and separate from the main power grid. These microgrids have the advantage of functioning normally even when the main grid is shutdown. This is an important advantage for companies against the backdrop of electrification, digitalization and automation all of which are reliant on power quantity, quality, and availability. Also chronic underfunding of energy infrastructure development by governments worldwide as a result of fiscal deficits and lack of funds, is forcing companies to take their own measures to address energy reliability issues. For instance, in the United States, underinvestment in energy infrastructure has reached over US$180 billion, a scenario that bodes well for the proliferation of private microgrids. The United States, China and Europe represent large markets worldwide with a combined share of 63.7% of the market. China also ranks as the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 15.3% over the analysis period supported by the Chinese government’s strong interest in decentralized energy governance structures and the ensuing launch of national pilot programs. The domestic government is using a combination of stringent regulatory measures and financial incentives to encourage energy industry stakeholders to pursue energy transition policies.