The market for gas-based generator sets (gensets) is poised for growth, on the back of the growing need for cleaner power generation. Factors associated with diesel gensets, such as high noise levels and operating costs, fluctuating diesel prices and high emissions, are driving the search for cleaner and more environment-friendly alternatives. The demand for gas gensets has been witnessing an upward trend across the commercial, IT, retail and telecom sectors. This surge is primarily due to the implementation of stricter regulatory and environmental norms, advancements in genset technology, the ready availability of natural gas through pipelines and declining natural gas prices. Further, as sources of reliable and uninterrupted emergency power supply, gas gensets are increasingly finding applications across various sectors, including industrial, commercial and consumer. As businesses go green and consumers become more environmentally conscious, the demand for gas gensets among end-user segments is expected to rise sharply in the near future.
Governments are increasingly supporting policies and investments in natural gas infrastructure to meet the escalating energy demand. Technological advancements related to natural gas, such as gensets, stationary fuel cells, microturbines, remote monitoring capabilities and renewable energy integration, are expected to further propel market growth. Particularly, strong growth due to rapid urbanisation and the booming construction market in emerging economies of the Asia-Pacific region, such as India, China and Japan, is expected to sharply increase demand for gas gensets in the coming years. The cheap and abundant availability of natural gas, falling prices and growing environmental concerns are driving the gas genset market. Gas-based gensets are also gaining traction in states such as Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra through readily available natural gas pipelines. Additionally, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, India is rapidly expanding its natural gas network.
By offering several ecological benefits, natural gas gensets are emerging as a viable option for individuals and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. These gensets allow for a quieter, longer and cleaner operation compared to diesel gensets, enabling a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, such as sulphur, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, by 35-40 per cent during combustion. Moreover, natural gas does not produce a pungent odour when burned, which is fairly common in diesel-based gensets. To this extent, natural gas is considered to be the cleanest burning fossil fuel of all. Owing to these factors, there has been a proliferation of natural gas gensets in response to the increasing stringency of environmental regulatory standards across the globe.
Natural gas gensets offer various economic benefits for end-users. Notably, despite higher initial capex compared to diesel generators, natural gas gensets tend to be more economical over their lifetime due to 40 per cent lower operating costs. Furthermore, diesel fuel consistently costs more than natural gas. As such, natural gas serves as a transition fuel as it is much cheaper and easier to maintain, unlike diesel which requires heavy maintenance due to fuel conditioning. In addition, gas gensets are scaling- and sooting-free, with no storage or space requirements, since natural gas is supplied through a strong underground pipeline network in large cities, enabling ready availability and indefinite storage.
Over time, running multiple gaseous-fuelled generators in a parallel configuration can result in initial capex reduction, reliability, flexibility in load management and improved maintenance capabilities with negligible power disruption. The parallel installation of two lower-kW generators tends to be more feasible and cost-effective compared to one larger-kW generator. Further, running paralleled generators allows for built-in redundancy, thereby eliminating single points of failure in a standby power system. Essentially, by facilitating critical load distribution, they reduce the risk of power outages in case of a generator failure. With the introduction of sophisticated integrated digital control technologies, parallel generators are increasingly being deployed in industries with critical power requirements, such as large data centres, government and healthcare facilities, and manufacturing plants, serving as sources of constant emergency power supply.
Apart from this, gas gensets have wide and diverse applications, ranging from load management and combined heat and power systems to off-grid power supply and renewable energy integration. Recent advancements have enabled gas gensets to meet code-driven start time and load acceptance standards, making them more reliable than diesel gensets in certain applications.
Conclusion
Although diesel gensets have long been the go-to for reliable backup power, their dominance has been facing disruption from gas gensets, fuelled by stringent emission standards, falling natural gas prices and rapid technological advancements. Going forward, increased investments in the gas pipeline network are set to accelerate the demand for gas gensets, marking a significant shift in the power generation landscape.