The Microgrid Knowledge Special Report on Microgrid Financing – Download it Now
Microgrid financing is uncharted territory for many investors because microgrids are relatively new, complex and different from other forms of alternative energy.
Financing models are likely to become clear once investors understand how to calculate a return on investment (ROI) for microgrids. Establishing microgrid ROI requires a full understanding of the capabilities of the advanced microgrid controller, the software or ‘brain’ that governs the activities of the microgrid.
Microgrid Knowledge explores this issue in its newly published, free guide on microgrid financing. “How Microgrids Can Achieve Maximum Return on Investment (ROI): The Role of the Advanced Microgrid Controller, explains how these controllers create superior value when they are applied to microgrids and other distributed energy projects.
The advanced microgrid controller drives the financial value streams and enables a microgrid’s ability to island from the central grid. The controller sets microgrids apart from other forms of energy that investors may be more accustomed to valuing, such as power plants or energy efficiency programs. As the report explains, compared to a microgrid these other energy products offer a relatively straightforward value: one provides electricity and the other electricity savings.
An advanced microgrid, however, offers both electricity and energy savings and derives value from each. And that’s just the start of the complex stream of economic benefits that can emanate from a microgrid. Others include electric reliability, resiliency, energy security, emissions reductions and energy bill savings. In addition, many microgrids incorporate combined heat and power (CHP), which adds thermal economic benefits to the mix.
Perhaps most important, an advanced microgrid controller creates these benefits by managing a complex interaction of the microgrid’s distributed assets: generators, load and possibily energy storage. (Often the interaction extends to the central grid, as well.)
Download the free Microgrid Knowledge guide: “How Microgrids Can Achieve Maximum Return on Investment (ROI): The Role of the Advanced Microgrid Controller.”
The microgrid derives its value from an interwoven complexity — and this is what gives a microgrid superior value — but also makes quantifying the value so difficult.
“How Microgrids Can Achieve Maximum Return on Investment (ROI): The Role of the Advanced Microgrid Controller” offers insight for investors, microgrid developers and energy policymakers, as well as communities, municipalities, colleges, hospitals, business parks, data centers, manufacturers, and others contemplating installing a microgrid.
Topics covered in the six-chapter guide are:
- Why is Microgrid Financing Difficult?
- Quantifying the Value of Reliability in a Microgrid
- Inside an Optimized Microgrid: What is the Source of its Value?
- Microgrid Value: Location, Location, Location
- Optimizing the Microgrid: How to Derive Maximum Value
- Case Study: Algonquin College Leads the Way in Benefiting from an Optimized Microgrid
“How Microgrids Can Achieve Maximum Return on Investment (ROI): The Role of the Advanced Microgrid Controller,” is available as a free download courtesy of Siemens.
For information about sponsoring a Microgrid Knowledge special report or white paper contact Kevin Normandeau, [email protected].
