Their small footprint means they’re easy to bring back online after an outage.Ī 2016 report from Green Tech Media indicated that more than 1,900 microgrid projects were underway that year. Since they can contain just a single power source and client, they are eminently scalable. Microgrids also make power generation and distribution more local. That’s why the voltage is so high in the first place. High-voltage transmission lines lose about 5% of their power just by transporting energy over a distance. There are several reasons why the traditional grid no longer meets our needs or supports the sustainable use of energy. An electric grid is any permutation of a power source, clients putting that power to work, wires to deliver it and a computer system to govern its behavior. Microgrids can help us design and build exactly that. Recent super storms have proven the need for resilient power grids that can be restored to functionality quickly. It must ensure clean power gets where it’s needed immediately and feeds any excess electricity back into the system, and one of the most efficient ways to ensure power during an outage is through microgrids. In addition to generating power and feeding it into the energy grid using renewable means, we also need a maximally resilient system. Some locations, like hospitals, have lives hanging in the balance. Since we live in a digital world with several things competing for power, it’s clear renewables need an assist if they’re to power our world without blackouts. However, they don’t cooperate consistently throughout the months and seasons. Solar power and wind are the two most productive renewable energy sources. Once everything’s connected to the power grid, we need it to be as efficient and resilient as possible.We need to electrify as much of our transportation technology and our residential and commercial locations as possible.

To continue scaling human civilization without rendering the planet uninhabitable, two things need to happen within the energy industry: Renewables are cleaner and becoming cheaper than coal, and they are also paving the way for something even more important: smart electric microgrids. That means we need sweeping changes to the way we generate and distribute electricity. Moreover, the EPA identified transportation (29%), electricity generation (28%) and general industry (22%) as the three largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in 2017.

Are micro grids becoming more popular