While California is today’s hub of microgrid opportunity, the Texas market bears watching as its grid operator, ERCOT, warns that this summer could bring record electricity use. ERCOT released its spring Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, more commonly known as the SARA report, last week and with it projections that the coming summer … [Read more...]
Ulrich Munz, of Siemens Corporate Technology, describes a federally funded research project to make the US power grid more resilient and reduce the length of outages. Among other things, researchers will explore splitting the grid into several microgrids. Severe storms can cause massive power outages. In September 2018, Hurricane Florence … [Read more...]
Solar and storage provider Sunrun has proposed creating neighborhood microgrids that would allow for resilience and energy sharing within “distribution islands.” The company released a paper intended to encourage utilities and other stakeholders to consider reconfiguring the grid into distribution circuits that can be islanded. Under the … [Read more...]
S&C Electric's Stephanie Pine describes the future of microgrids as they become more advanced, renewable, standardized, scalable and cybersecure. Over the last few years, microgrid deployments throughout the world have increased. We should expect this trend to continue as market projections point to steadily increasing annual microgrid … [Read more...]
Commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses are looking carefully at the financial impact of electrical outages and are increasingly seeking ways to mitigate the losses, according to a new report from S&C Electric. The 2020 State of Commercial & Industrial Power Reliability Report, based on a survey of 255 companies that achieve … [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...]
Energy management systems (EMS) both enhance and complicate microgrid design. Schneider Electric’s Andy Haun explains what it takes to ensure that modeling reflects outcome in today's sophisticated microgrids. There are countless variables to consider when making an investment into a microgrid, from the electrical distribution hardware, to … [Read more...]
Many factors make microgrids unique, including their ability to island in the case of a power outage. And alternative models like energy-as-a-service are making these microgrids more accessible. This final entry from a new special report series shares details of real microgrid projects from AlphaStruxure, a joint venture of The Carlyle Group and … [Read more...]
Concord Engineering VP Michael Boswell explores the potential of the multi-DER microgrid, and the financing options making this strategy a viable option for today's energy needs. Stepping into Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine from Rocky and Bullwinkle and then stepping out in the not too distant past, there was a time when PV Solar projects … [Read more...]
Microgrids provide businesses with a way to secure energy resilience, reduce costs and achieve climate goals. This excerpt from a new special report by Microgrid Knowledge and AlphaStruxure offers real world examples. Microgrids are the next logical step in the evolution of energy management for businesses. Many businesses are already … [Read more...]
Jules Nohra, director of optimization services, Veolia North America, explains why microgrid projects need to start with energy monitoring and energy efficiency.
The forecasted growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the rapid uptake of cloud-based applications to manage the emerging digital economy speak to a fundamental fact: the role data centers will play in daily life will continue to grow exponentially over time. The digitization of products and services is largely dependent upon them having reliable electricity. If done right, the shift to electricity can offer enormous advantages in terms of resource productivity and a more sustainable economy. Download the new report from Navigant Research and Schneider Electric that focuses on the connection between data centers and advanced microgrids.
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