With a large swath of Puerto Rico in the dark as a result of this week’s earthquake, there is some good news from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Microgrids in 10 schools are up and running. The solar plus storage microgrids were recently installed by RMI, Save the Children and Kinesis Foundation. Built in remote regions, the microgrids … [Read more...]
Ryan Shea and Madeline Tyson of Rocky Mountain Institute show why commercial customers paying demand charges and time-of-use rates should seriously consider an investment in solar plus storage, a common technology used in microgrids. As shown in a recent RMI report, battery energy storage costs are less than a fifth of what they were a … [Read more...]
Is it time to look beyond just emissions from power plants and vehicles and consider embedded carbon in steel, scrap metal, minerals and other building blocks? Here is a new program to do just that, as explained by Paola Natali, of Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Suzanne Greene of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and Perrine … [Read more...]
Microgrids and other distributed energy resources can extend a buildings "hours-of-safety" — a concept explained here by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) authors Jacob Corvidae and Sneha Ayyagari. How many people in your community are at risk during extreme weather events? The heat waves wracking the nation right now can cause heat exhaustion, … [Read more...]
Tyeler Matsuo and Julia Meisel, of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), explore climate auctions. This 21st century alternative to grants and loans uses competitive bidding to disperse public funding to carbon-reducing projects. With scientific reports warning of the urgency of concerted climate action, and with current national climate targets … [Read more...]
Megan Kerins and Alejandra Castrodad-Rodríguez of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) describe a new microgrid toolkit to ensure power reliability for those most vulnerable in Puerto Rico. When the lights went out September 20, 2017, no one could have foreseen that it would take 130 days to restore power to seven out of ten people in Puerto … [Read more...]
Sachi Graber of the Rocky Mountain Institute describes a $200 million opportunity in Nigeria to develop undergrid minigrids, projects that shore up electricity for those served by unreliable grids. Traditionally in sub-Saharan Africa, electrification efforts have emphasized the hundreds of millions of people who live off-grid, with no … [Read more...]
Economics often decide the fate of a microgrid proposal. Sometimes, however, the calculator gets set aside when the project has a strong humanitarian purpose. Such is the case with a program launched by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Save the Children to build school microgrids in Puerto Rico. The program emerged after RMI began … [Read more...]
Minigrids represent a $20 billion business opportunity in Nigeria and a chance to improve the lives of over half the population that remain without electricity, according to a report released today. Prepared by the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the report focuses on how lack of electricity impedes business … [Read more...]
More and more airports are interested in developing microgrids following last December's power outage at the Atlanta airport. But often transportation officials aren't sure how to get started. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) aims to help them by developing a “microgrid implementation toolkit," according to Adam Klauber, RMI's director, … [Read more...]
Trevor Gionet and Kay Aikin of Introspective Systems explain how flattening the COVID-19 curve is much like managing the grid with microgrids and demand response.
Data centers are moving away from direct ownership of hard assets and seeking resiliency and efficiency via the cloud and the virtualization of energy services. Download the new Navigant Research white paper, commissioned by Schneider Electric, that explores the implications of advanced microgrids and the cloud on the data center industry.
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