Communities are increasingly looking to encourage the development of public-purpose microgrids that, powered by distributed energy resources with energy storage, can maintain power for critical community assets (e.g., hospitals, senior care facilities, schools) during a power outage. Identified as a prominent solution to modernizing the grid, microgrids are portions of the electric grid which are powered by distributed energy resources (DER), like solar and energy storage, that can operate either independently, or as part of the larger grid.See footnote 1 According to the Environmental Law Institute, public purpose microgrids can provide a range of resilience and equity benefits, including ensuring that critical services for frontline populations are not disrupted during power outages, increasing community ownership and control of energy generation and storage, reducing energy costs for critical community assets, and enhancing broader grid resilience.See footnote 2 To encourage deployment of public purpose microgrids, some jurisdictions are implementing pilot microgrid projects (e.g. Bronzeville Microgrid, Chicago, Illinois). Other states and local governments are exploring opportunities to adopt programs and policies to reduce legal and regulatory barriers and create incentives to encourage deployment of microgrids to support both adaptation and mitigation efforts.
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Endnotes:
1. Robert Lasseter, CERTS Microgrid Concept, Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions View Source (last visited July 22, 2020). | Back to contentBack to content
2. Miriam Aczel, Microgrids, Distributed Energy, and Resilience, ELI (January 31, 2018), View Source | Back to contentBack to content
3. Net metering is when electric customers who generate their own electricity can sell excess electricity back to the grid. Critics of net metering have argued that these programs may shift costs to lower-income customers and others who are unable to participate. However, if properly designed, these programs can have benefits for all ratepayers. See Mark Muro & Devashree Saha, Rooftop Solar: Net Metering is a Net Benefit, Brookings Institute (May 23, 2016), View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
4. Resiliency Through Microgrids Task Force Report, Maryland Energy Administration (June 23, 2014), View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
5. Rosana Francescato, How a Standardized Value of Resilience Will Proliferate Community Microgrids (July 19, 2019), View Source. | Back to contentBack to content
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