Organic Rankine Cycle Market Size, Share, ORC Market Research and Industry Forecast Report, 2025 (Includes Business Impact of COVID-19)

                                          
Industry Insights, Market Size, CAGR, High-Level Analysis: Organic Rankine Cycle Market


The global organic rankine cycle market size was valued at USD 498.7 million in 2018 which is expected to grow at a CAGR 9.7% over the forecast period. It is used for generating power from low to medium temperature heat sources within a temperature range between 75 to 350°C. Hence the technology can be utilized for generating power from low-grade heat which would otherwise be wasted.
The rise in climate change issues and environmental concerns has led various countries around the world to reduce their carbon footprint. Major countries are opting for cleaner and green power generation technologies. This factor is driving the demand for market which aids in power generation through cleaner forms of energy.

The U.S. has been one of the leading countries in the organic rankine cycle (ORC) market development and deployment from the past on a global level. The high presence of geothermal reserves has resulted to drive the market in the country owing to which geothermal application segment has dominated its position in the U.S. ORC market.

ORMAT has been the major company that has been active in the country in the ORC market as the company provides its equipment along with EPC services for the development of geothermal based ORC projects. Further, the company owns and operates around 622 MW of geothermal and recovered energy generation projects across the U.S.

However, organic fluid used for ORC has a lower boiling point which provides more vapor pressure in comparison to water. This aids to enhance the efficiencies of the cycle as well as the expander. In addition, operation at lower temperatures helps to enhance the lifetime of the equipment and further leads to lower downtime for the equipment. These factors support the growth of ORC market.

In contrast, ORC technology faces stiff competition from available substitute technology such as steam rankine cycle (SRC) which is also utilized in similar application segments including geothermal, biomass, and waste heat recovery. SRC technology is applicable for wider temperature range such as low, medium, and high and further it has less USD/kW cost as compared to ORC.

Application insights

Geothermal application segment has dominated the organic rankine cycle market. The major reason for the dominance of the geothermal segment is due to the large capacity of these geothermal projects as compared to other application segments. Countries with high geothermal potential such as the U.S., Turkey, Kenya, New Zealand, and Indonesia have taken significant steps to utilize the available geothermal potential available in the respective countries.

Rise in focus of energy efficiency around the world has resulted in the industrial sector to identify suitable and potential ways to utilize available energy more efficiently. The exhaust steam produced in various processes in industries can be utilized and repurposed to produce clean power generation by industries. Further, ORC based waste heat recovery projects can be utilized for applications such as in gas turbines and waste to energy projects. This technology can be employed by major industries such as cement, glass, metal, and oil & gas

Biomass energy has witnessed growth around the world on account of rise in environmental concerns. This has led most of the major countries around the world to make supportive policies and to provide financial incentives for biomass projects. These efforts have resulted to boost installed capacity of biomass projects globally from 66.93 GW in 2010 to 115.73 GW in 2018. This has aided the growth of ORC based biomass projects which have been majorly deployed in European countries and in Canada.

Regional insights

The organic rankine cycle market in the European region is dominated by the geothermal application segment owing to the presence of Turkey which has been rapidly switching to geothermal power in the country. Further, countries such as Germany, France, and Croatia have installed geothermal power projects from 2014 to 2019. For instance, Turboden constructed a 17.5 MW geothermal power project in Croatia for Geoen - MB Holding which started operation in 2018.

Efforts taken in the form of funds for research and demonstration for energy efficiency practices taken by the European Commission have resulted to increase awareness regarding energy efficiency in the industries operating in the European region. This factor has led to the growth of the waste heat recovery application segment in the European region.

ORC market in the Asia Pacific region is dominated by the geothermal application segment due to the installation of large scale geothermal projects in the region from 2014 to 2018. For instance, Ormat has installed two large-scale geothermal power projects in Indonesia in 2017 and 2018 of capacity 220 and 110 MW respectively. This has resulted to make geothermal segment to dominate its position in 2018 in the Asia Pacific region.

Market Share Insights of Organic Rankine Cycle Market

Key players in ORC industry include Ormat, Turboden, Exergy, TAS, and others. Key companies in the industry are adopting various strategies to enhance their share. Major companies are providing EPC services along with equipment and are also providing long term services to end-users. For instance, Exergy in April 2019 has signed three new contracts for after-sale services with its customers.

Major companies are also looking to collaborate with different companies to launch better products. For instance, Turboden and Siemens in May 2019 have offered a new solution i.e. heat recycle solution which comprises a gas turbine power plant using ORC technology. This will help the plant to have lower emissions when compared with other technologies that are used in typical remote areas. This would further aid the company to gain market share further in the forecast period.

Companies are further doing research and development for production of hybrid products and are running projects for demonstration purpose. For instance, Ormat in August 2019 announced about commencement of a cost-effective operation of a solar hybrid and geothermal project. Thus electricity generated from solar power plant will be used to balance the equipments energy at the geothermal facility.

Segmentations, Sub Segmentations, CAGR, & High-Level Analysis overview of Organic Rankine Cycle Market Research Report

This report forecasts revenue and revenue growth at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis on the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For this study, this market research report has segmented the global organic rankine cycle market on the basis of application and region.

Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  
Geothermal
  
Biomass
  
Waste Heat Recovery