New Microgrid Opportunity: Watch New York

Jan. 3, 2014
For those building microgrids, here is one to watch. Consolidated Edison, one of the nation’s oldest and largest utilities, has agreed to undertake a microgrid pilot project in a recent deal struck with several parties. DG-friendly tariff changes also are in the works. The details are likely to come out sometime later this year. Here are docket numbers to help you follow the proceeding.

For those building microgrids, here is a proceeding to watch. Consolidated Edison, one of the nation’s oldest and largest utilities, has agreed to undertake a microgrid pilot project in a recent deal struck with several parties.

The details are likely to come out sometime later this year. The timing is contingent on release of a separate microgrid study underway by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, expected out this spring. Con Edison plans to make known its microgrid plan within six months of release of NYSERDA’s report.

Con Edison also says it will convene a collaborative to look at doing away with its offset tariff’s single customer limitation. This would allow multiple customers in the microgrid to offset distributed generation output against their energy usage.

The microgrid plan is a small part of a much larger rate agreement reached by the utility and several parties, including state energy planners, consumer advocates, the New York Power Authority, generators and environmentalists.  The agreement must still undergo approval by state regulators. It is available on the New York Public Service Commission website under docket numbers: 13-E-0030, 13-G-0031, 13-S-0032.

The New York news follows a recent report by Navigant Research that finds the microgrid market “heating up quickly” around the world with North America at the forefront.   Navigant expects global annual microgrid capacity to grow from  685 MW in 2013 to more than 4 GW by 2020.

About the Author

Elisa Wood | Editor-in-Chief

Elisa Wood is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and serves as co-host of the publication’s popular conference series. She also co-founded RealEnergyWriters.com, where she continues to lead a team of energy writers who produce content for energy companies and advocacy organizations.

She has been writing about energy for more than two decades and is published widely. Her work can be found in prominent energy business journals as well as mainstream publications. She has been quoted by NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other notable media outlets.

“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.

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