Requirement to counter the pollution, reduce consumption of conventional fuels and increase the efficiency of renewable power sources such as hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels is expected to be the major trend that will drive the utilization of smart means for energy generation. Smart wind market refers to utilization of computing models, better turbines positioning, improved efficiency of rotor blades to the mechanical parts inside the nacelle, connected sensors, and software to optimize the efficiency of the operations under broader range of conditions.

Power generation capacity of more kWhs per hour by lower capacity models, will garner increased applications

Incorporating intelligent algorithms and sensors in these next generation models has led to increased reliability and ability to function in relatively lower air current speeds. Owing to increased reliability, overall operation costs are significantly reduced and allows the turbine to capture more energy with less downtimes. Moreover, next generation low capacity models are featured with the ability to produce more kWhs over its long run. For instance, in February 2013, GE introduced 2.5-120 turbine, which had relatively lower power output than its dominant 2.85 megawatt turbine. However, owing to the integration of arrays of sensors in conjunction with algorithms it was featured with the capacity of producing around 15% more kilowatt hours. These factors are expected to prominently drive the industry growth through the forecast period.

Smart Wind Market Taxonomy

On the basis of components, the global smart wind market is classified into:

On-grid

Off-grid

On the basis of turbine axis, the global smart wind market is classified into:

Vertical axis wind turbines

Horizontal axis wind turbines

Declining costs per kWh owing to bigger turbines and economies of scale is expected to attract large number of users

According to American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), unsubsidized costs of this energy generation methodology in the country ranged from US$ 32 to 62 per MWh in 2016, which was relatively lower to the gas combined cycle that ranged from US$ 48 to 78 per MWh, which was the cheapest conventional energy source. Moreover, pricing trend has witnessed considerable decline over the past few years. According to Coherent Market Insights, owing to these advantageous factors, the number of deployment of wind farms is expected to increase over 1.5X in 2016, which will provide substantial opportunities for the smart wind market over the next few years.

Heavy upfront investments and threats to the wildlife are expected to be the major factors that will continue to hamper the industry growth

The energy output of these sources fluctuates around the clock, dependent on the winds, owing to which these cannot be directly use to supply base loads. Moreover, requirement of additional expenditure for enabling the energy storage such as pumped hydro or batteries will present considerable growth challenge to the overall industry growth. Moreover, bird mortality rates owing to collisions to these turbines has witnessed significant increase over the past few years. According to American Bird Conservancy, annual estimated loss of birds in 2012 was around 573,000. If the dependence on these sources were to increase up to 35%, the bird fatality rates could reach as high 5 million annually. Thus, threats to the wildlife is expected to remain a major concern.

U.S. was the leading producer of the energy through these sources, is anticipated to continue its dominance in the smart wind market. According to Wind Vision Report in 2015, by Department Of Energy in the U.S., projections of 20% of the required energy generation through its wind sources by 2030, and is expected to surge to 35% by 2050. In conjunction with U.S. as the most lucrative region, increased demands in Europe and Asia Pacific will also provide solid growth platform to the smart wind market. Industry participants include Xcel Energy, GE Power, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Omniflow, GaN Systems, Nextek Power Systems, and Nebula Energy.