BOULDER, Colo. — Driven by the growing need to enhance grid resiliency and the accelerating adoption of distributed generation (DG) technologies, the stationary fuel cell market is poised for rapid growth over the next decade, states Navigant Research. The stationary fuel cell sector represented more than 70 percent of global fuel cell revenue at the beginning of 2014, and is expected to continue to lead the overall fuel cell market in the coming years. According to a report from the research firm, annual shipments of stationary fuel cell systems are forecast to grow from nearly 40,000 in 2014 to 1.25 million in 2022, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51.7 percent.

“The stationary fuel cell sector is in a very vibrant phase, with a range of companies coming forward with product announcements, planned launches, and aspirational targets,” said Mackinnon Lawrence, research director with Navigant Research. “The increased focus on grid resiliency and the overwhelming costs associated with natural disasters are driving rapid growth in demand for the use of fuel cells as small distributed power plants for grid stabilization and backup.”

The core application segments in the stationary fuel cell market are prime power, large combined heat and power (CHP), residential CHP, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The residential CHP segment is expected to surpass the $1 billion mark in annual revenue this year, according to the report, and will remain the largest single application for stationary fuel cells through 2022.

An executive summary of the report is available here.

Publication date: 6/30/2014

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