Fault current limiter market is expected to reach a value of USD 5.2 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 9.2% during 2015-2020. Current inadequacy of circuit breakers and fuses along with the increasing grid interconnections is driving the demand for fault current limiters across the world. Fault current limiter is considered to be a vital protection component in present day T&D networks required to minimize the occurrence of fault currents. North America and Europe are investing heavily towards upgrade of existing T&D infrastructure. Developing economies like Asia-Pacific along with developed ones are moving towards renewable sources of energy to cope up with the increasing energy demand. Governments of countries in the region have taken various steps for renewable energy programs driving the demand for use of fault current limiter.
Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) dominates the global market:
Superconducting fault current limiter is the fastest growing segment. This high growth is attributed to the increasing usage of superconductor materials in various applications like generators, transportation, power transmission, electric motors, and medical among others. Superconducting fault current limiter is further segmented by its sub-types which include resistive, inductive and others. Resistive type superconducting fault current limiter held the largest market share in terms of value in 2014 followed by inductive superconducting fault current limiter.
Europe: The fastest growing region in fault current limiter market
Europe is currently focusing on smart grid technology and upgrade of its current infrastructure for better reliable and efficient networks. Smart technology will integrate modern communication technologies and renewable energy sources (wind, solar, others) into future power grids to supply more efficient, reliable, and safe power. One of the critical problems due to integration is excessive increase in fault currents in the electrical system. Conventional protection devices are limitedly capable to cope with the increased capacity especially at high voltage networks. This technical gap is increasing the scope and demand for fault current limiter in the region, which is a vital component of modern day technology (smart grid).
Breakdown of Primaries:
In-depth interviews have been conducted with various key industry participants, subject matter experts, C-level executives of key market players, and industry consultants among other experts to obtain & verify critical qualitative and quantitative information as well as assess future market prospects. Distribution of primary interviews is as follows
By Company Type: Tier 1- 60%, Tier2-27%, and Tier 3-13%
By Designation: C-Level-50%, Director Level-30%, and Others*-20%
By Region: North America-30%, Europe-20%, Asia-Pacific-20%, and RoW-30%
Leading players of this industry have been profiled with their recent developments and other strategic activities. These include ABB Limited (Switzerland), Siemens AG (Germany), Alstom (France), Nexans (France), and AMSC (U.S.) among others.
