There's growing interest in community-scale energy - from energy improvement districts to co-gen projects and stand-alone facilities. Scroll down to learn more.
Results: 27 results found. You are on page 1 of 2 pages.
The microgrid market experienced several changes in 2011, most notably a move away from pilot projects to practical full-scale commercial microgrids. Read what a recent tracker report from Pike Research has to say about the market's worldwide growth and microgrid adoption.
Alternative approaches and best practices for designing, operating and integrating distributed resource island systems (or microgrids) with electric power systems are covered in a new guide from the IEEE.
Some of our most important, most useful technologies were pioneered by the military. Global positioning satellites. The Internet. And now the smart grid. Yes, the U.S. military is quietly becoming a smart grid trailblazer. Here's a close-up on what they are working on, why they're working on it, and what it will mean to our industry.
The U.S. Army is leaving few stones unturned in its quest to adopt smart grid technologies for its buildings, equipment and operations. This week it received a Smart Charging Micro-Grid to help cut fuel use and costs and enhance power reliability in remote locations; and it awarded a contract for hybrid energy storage for tanks and armored vehicles.
Local government officials have given the green light to ambitious plans for a northern Colorado hybrid energy and research park. The developer envisions integrated natural gas and renewable energy generation, data centers and facilities for research in energy systems integration, smart grid, energy storage and more.
Diversified power management company Eaton Corporation will get a $2.4 million Recovery Act stimulus grant to create a microgrid for military bases that will provide an uninterruptible supply of power independent from the primary electric grid to protect critical base operations and reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
What is a community choice aggregation (CCA) program and what makes it so cool? Those are the questions Shawn Marshall answers in this resource – "New Energy Models for Local Communities" – presented during a GridWeek 2010 session focusing on community engagement. Marshall is a founding board member of the Marin Energy Authority, the agency that runs California's first CCA program. The presentation includes steps for getting a CCA started in other locales.
As the Smart Grid unfolds, utilities face pressing challenges they've never seen before. How do you grapple with technologies, programs and services that are brand new — and get it right the first time? Click inside for a new service to help utilities prepare for Smart Grid deployments, and to do it with less time and money.
Canadian electric vehicle fleet systems integrator Rapid Electric Vehicles is building fully electric Ancillary Power Vehicles for the U.S. Army to use in a multi-faceted microgrid research and development program. The vehicles are designed to reduce the high economic and environmental costs of fossil fuels and to provide fast backup power in emergencies.
Today's electric grid is too unreliable and vulnerable to suit the Defense Department. So the DOD and partners are planning a microgrid demonstration project that will incorporate Smart Grid technologies to improve efficiency and security.
Industry heavyweights are telling lawmakers tasked with planning America’s energy future that microgrids represent the most efficient and consumer-friendly plan for bailing out the country’s aging electricity infrastructure. Are they right? We’ve rounded up recent news and views, including a video showcasing a microgrid work-in-progress in a small UK village.
This new report offered by Resarch and Markets reviews the state-of-the-art in smart grids, discussing the likely path technologies will take in the future, and identifies and quantifies the business opportunities emerging as microgrids are installed worldwide. It also addresses how microgrids – capable of enhancing power quality, reliability, security and energy economics in a variety of applications from hospitals to office parks – will mesh with the existing grid infrastructure and in entirely off-grid deployments.
The developments that the Naperville, Ill. Department of Public Utilities have made in their efforts to update their power grid epitomizes the city’s true spirit of innovation. When they set out on their mission to build a more reliable, cost competitive, and efficient grid nearly 20 years ago, they started down a path toward building a smart microgrid before the term even existed. This case study sponsored by the Galvin Electricity Initiative highlights that effort.
Utilities are gradually dropping their guard and seeing the overall advantages microgrids could bring to the Smart Grid, and many industry giants — think Siemens, Lockheed Martin and a horde of other companies and universities — are researching and developing ways to make them practical and efficient.
The residents of Ashton Hayes, a small village in Cheshire have, with support from Carbon Connections, created a rural microgrid. In partnership with EA Technology and the University of Chester, this project investigates an innovative approach to the efficient use and control of small scale energy generation that enables communities to take control of their carbon footprint. The video includes interviews with project planners as well as community participants.
What's being ignored in all the hubbub over Smart Grid technology is that we are moving to a new way of buying and selling electricity. If you fast forward 10 or 15 years, it will look much different than it does today. But how will it look? Richard Tabors, author and VP at Charles River Associates, suggests there are four market models that capture the critical elements of what will emerge when the Smart Grid is fully implemented. Which one do you see in your future?
Infotility, a provider of distributed intelligent agent software, just kicked off the field-test phase of a Smart Grid demonstration project to optimize large-scale renewable energy in Marin County, California.
Between now and 2015, over 3.1GW of new microgrid capacity could come online worldwide, representing a total market value of $7.8 billion. So why do some utilities resist microgrids ... while others embrace them? Pike Research analyst Peter Asmus shares the backstory - and some changes afoot.
The Feds are committing more than $3 billion to renewable energy production facilities around the country. Read more on that, plus these developments too: GE wins Marine base microgrid project ... Study says utilities are still spending ... CHP systems get DOE support.
Two stylized alternative visions of how the power system might evolve to meet future requirements for the high power quality and reliability (PQR) electricity service that modern digital economies demand will be contrasted, a supergrids paradigm and a dispersed paradigm by speaker Chris Marnay. Dr. Marnay is Staff Scientist and Leader of the Technology Evaluation, Modeling, and Assessment Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley.
Grid divorce -- the process of becoming all or partly independent of a centralized utility -- was already a growing phenomenon in the U.S. A new financing mechanism may now make it even easier for campuses, office parks and neighborhoods to generate their own power. Click for the details...
The macro trends point inescapably to microgrids as the Next Big Thing, predicts Jesse Berst. Utilities must quickly decide when and how to cope. Vendors must quickly figure out when and how to profit. Click to read about the market drivers and get links to real-world examples.
We're getting mixed signals about the vitality of the smart grid market. On the one hand, the recent DistribuTECH conference was one of the most successful ever. On the other, a well-known Wall Street analyst recently told his clients that the smart metering sector is "facing several headwinds," including weak regulatory support in the U.S. and delays in European adoption. Taking the pulse of the smart grid industry is this week's Tuesday Topic.