MGK Power Resiliency Panel: Despite Headwinds, Microgrid Market Has Momentum
Three industry experts agree that extreme weather, power reliability and power availability issues will continue to spur growth in the microgrid market, despite some uncertainties.
“We feel really bullish on the growth of the microgrid market right now,” Todd Jackson, vice president of strategic development at PowerSecure, said during a recent Microgrid Knowledge Webinar.
The powerhouse panel discussion, “Power Reliability, Availability Spur Growth in Microgrid Market” also featured Mike Bakas, president of renewable fuels at Ameresco, and Allan Shurr, chief commercial officer of Enchanted Rock.
David Paganie, conference director for the Microgrid Knowledge Conference, and Rod Walton, managing editor of the Microgrid Knowledge website, moderated the webinar.
The state of the microgrid market
Walton kicked the webinar off with an overview of the recent state of the microgrid market. He called out several notable microgrid projects, including those at fast food restaurants, grocery stores and other commercial locations.
He also noted that microgrids are a global phenomenon. Microgrids are popping up from Africa to Ukraine. “Puerto Rico, with its chronic storm and transmission system challenges, is embracing microgrids with residential solar and battery storage combinations,” he said.
Walton also addressed the headwinds facing the microgrid industry as the new administration reshapes the nation’s energy policies.
“There is political and economic uncertainty,” Walton said. But, “the power of microgrids and islandable energy is too mission critical for so many parts of the supply chain and the economy [to ignore]. The microgrid isn't for every situation, but customers are realizing the value, and that desire should push us forward in a very positive way.”
During the hour-long discussion, which is now available to view on demand, the panel fielded questions about what’s driving microgrid demand.
Reliability and resilience are essential for more businesses
One of the primary drivers of microgrid growth is the need for reliable electricity, especially in an era when weather-related outages are more frequent and last longer, the panelists said. Shurr pointed to Hurricane Beryl, which left some in Houston without power for two weeks last year.
“Outages are getting longer, they are getting more frequent,” and that’s changing the way people define critical infrastructure, Shurr said.
“If [businesses] believe that they're critical for their customers during these extended outages, they need to take some steps [to improve their resilience], or their competitor will,” he said.
Utility interest on the rise
Utilities are increasingly turning to microgrids to help manage increased load from data centers, manufacturing and other large load centers.
“We've experienced a lot more collaboration over the last half a dozen years or so with utilities,” Bakas said. “They realize we're not necessarily their competitors. We can actually be a support mechanism to deal with some of their capacity constraints.”
The impact of tariffs
The panelists were split when it comes to how proposed tariffs will impact the microgrid market.
“The tariffs will increase the expense to the customer for the microgrid, but the need for the microgrid doesn't change just because the expense goes up,” Jackson said. “The part of the market I believe is going to suffer is the folks that are chasing energy arbitrage…I don't think that the cost of the offtake of the energy, or the price they're going to get from the uptake of the energy, is going to be commensurate with the increased price of a microgrid.”
Bakas had a similar perspective.
“The microgrid business case might look a little bit less favorable in a tariff environment,” he said.
On the flip side, Bakas pointed out that if the selling price for the product and service sold by the microgrid’s owner also goes up, the revenue [the microgrid is] protecting during an outage might be higher in a tariff situation, making a microgrid even more indispensable to the business.
Shurr expressed less concern about tariff consequences.
“I think the value of resiliency is going to grow faster than the cost structure, even with tariffs on the equipment that we source,” he said.
Wide-ranging discussion
During the webinar, the panelists discussed a wide range of topics, including how microgrids can help mitigate strain on the grid, which sectors of the economy are most interested in microgrid technologies and how microgrids can be used as a bridge to temporarily power large loads in the face of long interconnection queues.
The webinar highlighted some of the many areas of discussion that will be covered during Microgrid Knowledge’s annual industry conference.
Bakas, Shurr and Jackson are part of the advisory board for the Microgrid Knowledge Conference, which will be April 15-17 in Dallas.
Jackson is a panelist for the Solving Growing Capacity with Distributed Energy Resource session on April 15. Shurr will speak during April 17’s general session, Supporting Critical Needs in an Emergency: Microgrid Performance During Severe Weather Events and Natural Disasters.
