The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal property, and the Department of Energy (DOE) are seeking proposals for emerging technologies that can maintain healthy indoor air, increase building resilience and improve onsite photovoltaics in commercial buildings. The GSA and DOE plan to use selected technologies from the … [Read more...]
Microgrid Leaders Issue Call to Action: Time to Level the Playing Field
November 24, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Opportunities abound for microgrids in the US. But development lags frustrate microgrid adoption. As a result, too many businesses and communities continue to struggle — unnecessarily — with power outages. What’s the problem and what can the microgrid community do to overcome it? Since people often leave conferences inspired, but not … [Read more...]
Zibelman Issues Parting Advice on Australia’s Energy Market; Readies for New Job at Google
November 23, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Audrey Zibelman, former chair of the New York Public Service Commission and an early architect of the state's Reforming the Energy Vision, offers parting insights about energy market reform as she readies to leave her position as CEO of the primary grid operator in Australia. This article originated on RenewEconomy. Outgoing CEO of the … [Read more...]
How to Make FERC 2222 Work for Microgrids
November 20, 2020 By 3 Comments
FERC 2222 presents promise — but also challenges — for the US microgrid industry, according to energy policy experts who spoke this week at Microgrid 2020 Global, a virtual onference that attracted more than 4,300 people. The federal order, expected to pave the way for aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs) to compete with … [Read more...]
Industry Bullish on Future of Microgrid Market Over Next 10 Years
November 18, 2020 By 2 Comments
The microgrid industry is bullish about the future of the microgrid market over the next 10 years, expecting the energy as a service model and modular microgrids to grow quickly worldwide. But in the US, regulatory challenges create hurdles, said speakers Tuesday during the second day of the Microgrid 2020 Global Conference. “If we lay the … [Read more...]
California Awards $3.5 Million for Microgrid at Frito-Lay Food Processing Plant
November 13, 2020 By 3 Comments
The California Energy Commission has awarded Frito-Lay a $3.5 million grant to build a solar-powered microgrid at a food processing facility in a project the agency is touting as a model for the industry. The microgrid will be installed at a snack food processing facility in Rancho-Cucamonga, California, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions … [Read more...]
Key Players Shed Light on Why the Microgrid Market is Growing
November 12, 2020 By 1 Comment
Natural disasters, the pandemic, new business models and state policies drive the microgrid market forward, while regulatory hurdles hold it back, say industry players who will be speaking November 17-19 at Microgrid 2020 Global. The natural disasters spurring microgrid growth include hurricanes and wildfires. In some cases, the wildfires … [Read more...]
What Does a Joe Biden Presidency Mean for Microgrids?
November 10, 2020 By 3 Comments
Microgrids, already growing in demand because of wildfires, hurricanes, the pandemic and energy equity issues, are likely to soon experience another boost — the climate policies of President-elect Joe Biden. Biden’s “Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice” makes several pledges that could influence the microgrid … [Read more...]
Pandemic, Outages Kindle Homeowner Interest in Electric Reliability: Survey
October 30, 2020 By 1 Comment
A new survey by Sunrun underscores just how much homeowners are beginning to worry about electric reliability as California utilities continue to shut off power to prevent wildfires. The Sunrun study found a kindling in homeowner interest in acquiring batteries to avoid blackouts. In the study, 38% of homeowners out of 1,000 surveyed said … [Read more...]
California to Release Solicitation for Mobile Microgrids to Help During Power Shutoffs
October 23, 2020 By 11 Comments
The California Energy Commission (CEC) plans in late December to release a $14 million solicitation for mobile microgrids that will provide resilience during grid outages related to public safety power shutoffs (PSPS). The commission wants to develop and demonstrate ways to increase resilience during grid outages using clean energy … [Read more...]
