Clean energy’s gold rush for minerals used to manufacture electric vehicles, solar and other systems is not always sustainable and sometimes employs questionable labor practices, says a group that has released a mining toolkit to help the industry develop best practices. The Energy Resources Governance Initiative’s (ERGI) toolkit aims to … [Read more...]
New York is well on its way to meeting the state’s goal of having 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025 and 3,000 MW by the end of the decade, and the 'value of distributed energy resources,' or VDER, mechanism gets part of the credit, according to a report released by state utility regulators. The state had deployed or contracted for 706 MW of … [Read more...]
With the economy in a holding pattern because of COVID-19, energy use is uncharacteristically low. A couple of weeks ago Blue Lake Rancheria began to worry that the low demand spelled trouble for its microgrid. However, the microgrid controller was thinking a step ahead of everybody. The Humboldt, California tribal facility installed the … [Read more...]
Often, microgrid operators have the choice of either purchasing a fixed supply contract or playing in the market, but not both, said James McGinniss, CEO and co-founder, David Energy, a competitive retail electricity supplier. “Microgrid customers are often faced with a bad choice: They can take an indexed contract in order to capitalize on … [Read more...]
The Consortium for Battery Innovation has issued a request for research proposals looking at how lead batteries can be used for energy storage for various applications, including microgrids. “As a newer application for lead batteries, research into field and laboratory tests for energy storage systems is essential to gain deeper insights … [Read more...]
A new microgrid serving Kings Plaza shopping mall in Brooklyn, N.Y. kept operating through a Consolidated Edison (ConEd) blackout last summer and helped the utility restart after the outage. The microgrid consisting of oil and gas fired engines was completed in May after the owners decided to convert a 12-MW stand-alone power system to a … [Read more...]
A community in Switzerland has completed a successful year long trial of a blockchain electricity market, a technology being eyed for community microgrids. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) funded project Quartierstrom, the first of its kind in the world, involving 37 households in Walenstadt, Switzerland. For one year, the community … [Read more...]
Australia utility Horizon Power and PXiSE Energy Solutions, a provider of microgrid controls, are working to demonstrate that microgrids in remote areas can replace traditional infrastructure and boost renewables. Horizon Power, Western Australia’s regional energy utility, has begun operating a microgrid consisting of 1 MW solar and 2 MW battery … [Read more...]
Helsinki, Finland has launched a $1.1 million global competition to identify the future of urban heating, one that uses neither fossil fuels nor biomass-fired technology. The city hopes to find a solution that can be put in place by 2029, helping to decarbonize Helsinki and possibly serving as a model for other cities worldwide. To that … [Read more...]
Nevada County in Northern California sprawls west to east from the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains over the top of the snow-covered peaks to near Lake Tahoe. Dotted with former mining towns, including the county seat, Nevada City, and the sister city of Grass Valley, the region is the heart of Gold Rush country. It is also a … [Read more...]
There are multiple approaches to funding microgrid projects. Eric Dupont, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at PowerSecure, discusses why CAPEX versus OPEX become important considerations in this interview with Yasmin Ali, Microgrid Knowledge contributor.
Microgrids represent a relatively new concept that requires adapting existing frameworks. Because of that, projects must involve careful coordination between the developer, utility and the developer’s energy consultant to ensure a successful outcome. Download the new white paper from Velioa that explores how to navigate local utility requirements for microgrids.
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