Environmental sustainability refers to continuous improvement on carbon emissions and relies on electrical generation resources to be evenly obtained, used and renewed to make them actually sustainable. Two examples of how technology is influencing environmental sustainability are the island of Ta’u in the American Samoa and Denham, Australia. Ta’u has become almost 100% reliant on [...]
Microgrid projects are popping up across the globe, but colder climates, particularly those located in the Arctic Circle, are uniquely poised for microgrid development. Alaska, for example, has a large rural population that live in remote areas, including islands. Without microgrids, these remote areas are heavily reliant on diesel fuel. It can be cumbersome, costly, [...]
Microgrids are one of the most talked about disruptions to the energy industry in the 21st century. According to a recent GTM Research report, the energy industry experienced noticeable increases in mixed-owned microgrids, microgrids owned by third parties, and municipal or community microgrids in 2016. However, end users or privately-owned microgrids represented the largest ownership [...]
The development of microgrid technology has revolutionized the way power is produced and consumed. For many large end-use customers, the need to keep power generation local, cheap, and reliable is now part of their growth strategy — especially when they have critical power needs that must remain functioning at all times. The growing interest in [...]
When more than 50 million people in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada woke up on Thursday, August 14, 2003, they probably had no idea that mere hours later a harmless little tree branch would wipe out their power for days. It didn’t help matters that a software bug would prevent the system [...]
The world is seeing a microgrid phenomenon. Rural electrification initiatives are creating vast numbers of hybrid microgrids globally and innovations continue to improve microgrid technology. In fact, a recent Navigant Research study, Market Data: Microgrids, reports that the global microgrid capacity will grow from 1.4 GW to 7.6 GW by 2024. In the same study, [...]
Singapore will become the first Southeast Asian country to have a hybrid microgrid system that integrates solar, wind, diesel, tidal, and power-to-gas technology. The microgrid project is being built by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and will cover more than 64,000 square meters. The project will integrate four hybrid microgrids, energy storage systems, and more than [...]
It is important for the motivation behind a microgrid project to guide the microgrid business plan. OATI’s Microgrid expert, David Heim, recently shared that reliability, economy, and environment were the three main drivers behind every Microgrid build. Today’s blog shares examples of what is motivating utilities to explore and leverage microgrids into assets. Arizona Public [...]
Today’s energy industry is experiencing change like never before as countries across the globe move toward cleaner, more sustainable sources of power. As a result of go-green initiatives, such as the Clean Power Plan, the Paris Agreement, and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) targets, e.g., California and New York’s goal of 50% by 2030, and Hawaii’s [...]
Microgrid management presents unique challenges to grid operators. The definition of Smart Grid management has evolved well beyond collecting and sharing interval data from meters and adding intelligence to certain distribution system hardware. Today it involves having visibility to and control over devices anywhere in the distribution system all the way to the grid edge. [...]