Diesel gensets getting competition from cleaner counterparts

June 24, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

As a source of continuous or prime power, diesel generator sets (gensets) have traditionally been the leading baseload distributed generation (DG) technology -- particularly during power blackouts. One of the least expensive, most reliable DG technologies available today, diesel gensets have expanding opportunities among homeowners and mission-critical commercial facilities requiring power 24 x 7. According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from diesel gensets will reach $41.2 billion by 2018.

Despite the opportunities, diesel gensets will have competition from cleaner counterparts.

"Although providers of diesel gensets can expect to see continued growth over the next several years, they face rising competition from natural gas gensets," said Dexter Gauntlett, research analyst with Navigant Research. "Over the next decade, the increase in unconventional gas resources and tightening emissions regulations for stationary generators will favor clean-burning natural gas systems over their diesel counterparts in North America."

Natural gas gensets are particularly well-suited to combined heat and power (CHP) applications, in some cases reaching efficiencies of up to 90 percent. Natural gas genset installations will reach 13.2 GW per year by 2018 and generate $45 billion in cumulative revenue between 2013 and 2018, according to Navigant.

These developments will likely take time to fully materialize. Over the short term, countries with strong economic and/or population growth rates that are increasingly burdened by blackouts, such as Nigeria, India, Chile, South Africa, and others, continue to drive diesel genset sales, according to Navigant, while industries in India have become highly dependent on diesel due to power outages spanning as much as 16 hours per day, making them more vulnerable to price volatility.

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