“As the clean energy industry matures and as it simultaneously comes to grips with economic challenges, market leaders are experimenting with new business models, both at a large scale and on a distributed basis,” says senior analyst Peter Asmus. “At the same time, key industry players are utilizing an increasingly wider diversity of technology options, especially in the solar and wind sectors.”

Key clean energy trends that Pike Research is watching in 2011 and beyond include the following:

--The revival of direct current (DC) transmission and distribution technologies

--China’s rise as the most important global market for waste-to-energy power plants

--New rules for economies of scale, from huge wind turbines as large as 10 megawatts (MW) to small modular nuclear reactors that could power a shopping center or a business complex

--Greater diversification of technology choices in solar, including a resurgence of concentrated solar power (CSP) and concentrated solar PV (CPV)

--More product diversity in the wind power sector, both in terms of design and scale, including more vertical axis and two-bladed turbine designs and the increasing importance of mid-sized turbines (100 kW to 1 MW)

--The movement of power plants to marine sites, including the growth of offshore wind, hydrokinetic wave and tidal generators, and even floating solar photovoltaics (PV) on water-based sites

Growth in geothermal power generation, largely due to state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in the western United States

--Investor-owned utilities returning to ownership/development of new renewable generation projects

Conclusions and predictions presented in this paper draw from a broad array of Pike Research reports, with market forecasts included for key sectors. A full copy of the white paper is available for free download on the firm’s website.

www.pikeresearch.com