Microgrid

What is a microgrid?

A microgrid is a self-contained electrical network that allows you to generate your own electricity on-site and use it when you need it most. For this purpose, your microgrid will connect, monitor, and control your facility’s distributed energy resources (DER) while enhancing performance, sustainable footprint, and resilience. You can operate microgrids while connected to the utility grid or in disconnected “island” mode. When the grid goes down or electricity prices peak, microgrids respond.

The three main benefits of microgrids:

• Enable greener operations by integrating on-site renewables such as wind and solar.
• Save energy expenses by optimizing demand, storing electricity, and selling it back to the grid during peak demand.
• Improve reliability, thus keeping your facility’s power on during grid outages.

How do microgrids work?

A microgrid co-locates electricity generation and consumption. Unlike the utility grid, which generates electricity in a centralized power plant and then distributes it along hundreds of miles of transmission lines, a microgrid generates electricity on-site. For electricity generation, microgrids typically use some combination of backup diesel generators and renewables such as solar panels. Microgrids can incorporate battery systems to store electricity and deploy it during outages or when grid demand spikes.

Who can benefit from a microgrid?

Today, organizations of all kinds are turning to microgrids and distributed energy resources for financial and sustainability benefits. We’ve worked with a diverse set of customers: from municipal governments and military bases to nature preserves and vertical farms. Microgrids can also be utilized in remote areas where energy access is limited or nonexistent to provide much-needed resources. Any organization seeking to gain control over energy costs, advance sustainability, and increase resiliency can benefit from a microgrid.

How much does a microgrid cost?

Microgrids range dramatically in complexity and size. The exciting answer for organizations is “it’s free” because an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) approach eliminates your upfront costs. A microgrid, in a more traditional way, is a CapEx and an OpEx model. In a project mode, it’s high CapEx and low or no OpEx, in an energy-as-a-service business model, it’s high OpEx. EaaS is a financing model for microgrids that allows you to avoid upfront costs. Similar to a software-as-a-service model, with EaaS you avoid capital expenditures and instead pay only for ongoing service.