The organic Rankine cycle power systems market: Recent developments and future perspectives

ABSTRACT

This work presents an up-to-date overview on the recent developments in the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) industry. Information from more than 30 manufacturers, representing a total of almost 2900 projects have been collected and analyzed providing information on trends in the past and the market evolution during the last four years in terms of installed capacity and installed plants divided by application, macro region and manufacturer. At the end of 2020, the cumulated installed capacity of ORCs was 4.5 GW. Since 2016, the overall ORC market increased by 40 % (+1.18 GW) in terms of installed capacity and by 46.5 % (+859) in terms of installed plants. Regarding the capacity increase between 2016 and 2020, the largest increase is due to geothermal application (+972 MW, +45 %) with 74 new plants, while waste heat systems have the largest growth in terms of the number of installed systems (630 plants, +208 %) with an installed capacity of 125 MW. The installed capacity of biomass ORC systems increased by 20 % (69 MW), while the number of installed plants increased by 22 % (77 plants). Additionally, a market survey was conducted, and ten established ORC manufactures contributed their perspective on the ORC market. The results highlight that, despite COVID-19, the current market situation is in good shape and that the majority of the manufacturers have positive expectations concerning the future development. Central and Eastern Europe as well as the ASEAN region are rated as the regions with the highest growth potential. Geothermal energy and small waste heat installations are expected to be the most relevant heat sources for the coming years. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd