BOULDER, Colo. — Stationary fuel cells continue to be at the forefront of the global fuel cell industry, notes Navigant Research. As the focus on grid stability increases and the costs associated with natural disasters rise, the use of fuel cells as small distributed power plants for grid stabilization and backup power is moving forward more rapidly than any other fuel cell sector. According to a new report from the research firm, global stationary fuel cell revenue will grow from $1.4 billion in 2013 to $40 billion in 2022.

“With the growing need to enhance grid resiliency and the accelerating adoption of distributed generation technologies worldwide, the stationary fuel cell industry is well-positioned for growth over the next decade,” said Mackinnon Lawrence, research director with Navigant Research. “Expected to break through the $2 billion mark in annual revenue in 2014, stationary fuel cells are seeing increased financing options for adoption, particularly in the healthy residential combined heat and power segment.”

The prime power market is led by three players: Bloom Energy, ClearEdge Power, and FuelCell Energy. These three companies are driving forward the deployment of large stationary fuel cells, with capacities in the tens of megawatts. At the end of 2013, 20 companies accounted for more than 95 percent of total revenue for the stationary fuel cell sector, according to the report. The downside to this concentration is an innovation pipeline that may not be robust enough to drive the technological advances that this emerging sector will require over the next five to 10 years.

An executive summary of the report can be downloaded here.

Publication date: 3/31/2014

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