Market Overview

Energy harvesting (environmental power generation) is a technology for collecting small amounts of energy from sources occurring in the immediate surroundings of the device (such as vibrations, heat, light, wind, and electromagnetic waves) and converting into power supply. While its electricity generation principle had been known for years, what paved the way to practical use of energy harvesting is the development of devices that can be loaded with a minimal power source.
 

Here is a bird's eye view of the status of energy harvesting devices to date. Establishment of Energy Harvesting Consortium in 2010 energized domestic industries in Japan that are related to energy harvesting.
 

Although the boom for energy harvesting calmed down for a while, when a concept of the "Trillion Sensors (Economy)", a society utilizing a great number of sensors, was advocated around 2014, energy harvesting devices were marked out as one of the means to power network endpoints, because energy harvesting devices with sensor function was ideal to actualize the vision. Nevertheless, trillion sensors did not penetrate. The sensor industry toned down and lost momentum for energy harvesting. 
 

With the rise of "IoT" (Internet of Things) around 2015, the world started to refocus on energy harvesting devices again as a means of power supply. Unlike the ‘trillion sensors’, any objects in IoT network, even those that were not previously sensors, connect to the Internet. Energy harvesting devices made a good match for IoT edge devices, for they are useful even when there is no distribution of grid power supply. 
 

Since energy harvesting devices have various characteristics depending on the power generation method, detailed adjustments in settings and controls are necessary to match with the operating environment and application. In some cases, energy harvesting device with complex mechanism is used as a component of a simple off-the-shelf product, like an eco-friendly remote controller of a warm water electronic toilet seat, which requires only a push of a button to operate. Batteryless (i.e., no battery replacement or disposal) and wireless (easy to install or remove) are the two key deciding factors for users to choose energy harvesting devices. 
 

As a target of this research, the energy harvesting device indicates an electronic device that is comprised of power generating element, sensor, power controller, and transmitter, which captures ambient energy and mainly provides microwatts to milliwatts level of power (for low-energy electronics). The energy harvesting devices are chiefly used with the IoT edge devices, and the global shipment volume in 2021 is estimated 585,200 thousand units (based on the shipment volume at manufacturers).

Noteworthy Topics

Power Consumption and Portability as Key for Selecting Electric Power Supply

Securing power supply is essential for using electronic equipment, and in some cases the power source is chosen based on conditions. Basically, a device is chosen when it operates simply by putting a plug in a socket powered by the least expensive and most stable power grid distributed. Meanwhile, batteries are used for low-energy consuming portable devices without plugs. 


Some of the electronic devices are adaptable to wireless power grid. Although they are limited to some types of smartphones and wearable devices at present, in the future it is expected to be used for drones, electric vehicles, and other devices with higher power consumption. 


Under the circumstances, energy harvesting devices are expected to fill a part of the demand for battery and power grid.


In the segment of primary batteries, prime range for energy harvesting devices is the small wattage level like microwatt and milliwatts, and they are considered useful for small portable devices. Main applications are such as various type of remote controllers, lighting fixtures, toys, watches, hearing aid, radio, sundry items, measuring instruments, camera, IC recorder, powered toothbrush, electric shaver, intercom, doorbell, security camera, wireless device, beauty household appliances, electronic dictionary, and calculator. Part of batteries for these items will be replaced by energy harvesting devices. 


Energy harvesting devices are used also as an alternative to power grid. For instance, they are installed in devices added to the existing facilities like buildings, for they do not require additional construction work. In other cases, they are adopted for new facility equipment for a reason of contributing to considerable reduction of construction period. 

Future Outlook

When selecting a power source, there are cases where users prioritize cost and stability, and therefore utilize batteries to eliminate all kinds of difficulties and complexities. Meanwhile, sourcing power from the grid, by putting a plug in a socket, has been a classic sourcing method adopted for many years. In these cases, users most likely do not adopt energy harvesting devices because they cannot find significance or a meaning of using them.

As a consequence, it is assumed that prospective users of energy harvesting devices are those that place importance on reducing environmental load and value energy harvesting method equally as conventional power sourcing method.

For this reason, and against the background of proliferation of IoT devices, Yano Research Institute forecasts the global market of energy harvesting devices to grow to 9,547,500 thousand units by 2030. 

Energy harvesting device is expected to become widespread mainly as an alternative to primary batteries. However, since it is difficult to determine from sales and shipment status of primary batteries if they are for new installation or for replacement, it is difficult to make projections based on the transition of the primary battery market size.


 

Research Outline