Remote regions of the world such as the circumpolar Arctic, once viewed as disadvantaged due to a lack of conventional grid infrastructure, have proven to be fertile ground for microgrid innovation. This innovation flows from both the challenges associated with providing reliable electricity without the benefit of traditional transmission and … [Read more...]
Local governments, military officials, university heads, utilities, water and waste facilities, as well as executives overseeing hospitals, transit, airports, and port authorities are exploring the feasibility of microgrids for their operations and seeking relevant examples to emulate. This microgrid guide, developed by Rima Oueid, a senior adviser … [Read more...]
California’s major wildfires in 2017 and 2018 resulted in the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the expansion of utility policies to shut off portions of the distribution grid during times of high fire risk. These intentional power shut-offs are expected to average 2–5 days, Concerns about the shutdowns have prompted proposed … [Read more...]
Multi-user microgrids (MUMs) are an emerging approach to electricity service that allows neighboring customers to obtain greater resilience in electricity service, from a set of locallyinstalled distributed energy resources (DERs) of their own choice (sometimes including solar energy and energy storage), through joint participation in a power … [Read more...]
Power outages have both acute and long-term impacts on public health and the critical infrastructure that supports the achievement of public health goals. Acute, immediate impacts tend to grab headlines. In November 2012, Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge knocked out power along the coast in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, disabling primary and backup … [Read more...]
The City of Berkeley received a grant from the California Energy Commission as part of its Electric Program Investment Charge program to conduct the Berkeley Energy Assurance Transformation (BEAT) project. The BEAT project explored how to design a clean energy microgrid community (CEMC) to serve key municipal buildings and to improve community … [Read more...]
Microgrids offer a classic example of government policy chasing technology. While microgrids are being developed worldwide, few jurisdictions offer much-needed policy guidance and certainty. At Microgrid 2018, Edward Yim, associate director at the DC Department of Energy and Environment, shared how scalable resilience and a focus on climate … [Read more...]
Energy decentralization is a major development that could help tackle the energy challenges of the 21st century. Major technical and economic improvements have allowed substantial progress in decentralized energy resources, such as solar energy and storage and the Internet of Things (IoT), driving new cooperation and optimization capabilities. Also … [Read more...]
Interest is rising in clean energy microgrids, especially within healthcare, higher education, government and business. What’s the attraction? All microgrids offer greater electric reliability. But the clean energy microgrid does more. It also reduces carbon emissions and helps organizations reach sustainability goals—an achievement increasingly … [Read more...]
Smarter energy management delivers reliability, efficiency and cost savings. From the time when our alarm goes off in the morning to when we turn the lights off at night, we use electrical power. In terms of magnitude, each person in the U.S. spends around $3,052 on electricity (2012 figures). With a population of about 314 million people at the … [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?
Microgrids represent a relatively new concept that requires adapting existing frameworks. Because of that, projects must involve careful coordination between the developer, utility and the developer’s energy consultant to ensure a successful outcome. Download the new white paper from Velioa that explores how to navigate local utility requirements for microgrids.
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