What is a Microgrid? Everything You Need to Know
One of the key components of a modern electrical grid is its ability to be resilient and reliable. No one likes it when the lights go off at your home or your business can’t operate because it doesn’t have access to electricity. This quest to ensure the electrical grid is always there when we need it has put even more emphasis on microgrids. These innovative microgrid energy systems are not pie-in-the-sky ideas but key solutions for energy markets going through the energy transition. Let’s explore the evolving world of microgrids, the types of microgrids in the market, how microgrids work, and their role in adding value to the future energy system.
Understanding Microgrids
So, what’s the best way to think about microgrids? Imagine a microgrid as a smaller, smarter, and more efficient version of our traditional central power grid. A microgrid is all about being local and operating independently but can still be connected to the central power grid. This is one of the beauties of microgrids in that they can provide tremendous value when extreme weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes knock the main power grid offline.
If you live in areas prone to extreme weather events like the Gulf Coast with hurricanes or the Midwest with tornadoes, you can see the value a microgrid can bring when there’s no access to electricity for an extended period of time. With microgrids, the ability to bring power back to the system occurs much quicker, if not instantaneously, when compared to the central power grid that requires transmission and distribution lines and substation repairs in order to deliver power from central power stations to consumers.
Microgrid Types
Just like sno-balls in New Orleans, microgrids are available in different flavors to suit the needs of the market. There are two primary types of microgrids:
Remote Microgrids: These systems operate independently of the central power grid and tend to be powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. While remote microgrids aren’t practical for every market, they can make a ton of sense in remote locations.
Grid-Connected Microgrids: Maybe the more common microgrid when compared to remote microgrids, a grid-connected microgrid’s main feature is that they are connected to the main power grid but can disconnect and operate autonomously from the main power grid when needed. Having a grid-connected microgrid can work wonders during extreme weather events when consumers need access to electricity.
How Do Microgrids Work?
A microgrid’s heartbeat lies in how it’s powered when disaster strikes. During normal market conditions, grid-connected microgrids integrate seamlessly with the central power grid. But when an electrical grid outage occurs, this is where the magic happens.
Distributed energy resources (DERs) like generators, batteries, or renewable energy resources, connected to the microgrid power, power it when the microgrid is islanded (disconnected) from the main power grid. This feature allows DERs to power a microgrid to keep the lights on when the main power grid can’t supply electricity to the microgrid. Remote microgrids work much the same way with the main difference being that remote microgrids are not connected to the main power grid.
The Benefits of Microgrids
Microgrids offer a multitude of advantages:
Resilience: When the main power grid is unable to deliver an uninterrupted supply of electricity, microgrids can step in to supply the necessary electricity.
Reliability: Whether it’s your friends and family or the power grid, reliability is key. Microgrids help to prevent widespread power outages by always being there with power.
Cost Savings: Peak shaving (reducing the amount of energy purchased from your utility during peak energy demand hours) and selling excess power when electricity prices are high are techniques that can be used by consumers and businesses to reduce operating costs and generate additional revenue.
Microgrids in Action
One of the core tenets of microgrids is their flexibility in applications and use cases such as:
Educational Campuses: Higher education uses microgrids to ensure their campuses are safer and the learning environment isn’t interrupted.
Medical Complexes: Critical care facilities like hospitals need to maintain operations, especially during emergencies.
Public Safety: Communication and response systems need to be reliable for first responders to allow them to help their communities at all times.
Commercial and Industrial Facilities: Whether it’s producing life-saving widgets around-the-clock or peak shaving or selling power back to the grid, microgrids allow businesses to unlock cost savings or generate additional revenue.
The Future of Energy: Microgrids
In summary, microgrids unlock a multitude of benefits with reliability and resilience being front and center. As the energy transition continues, microgrids can be another tool in the toolbox for grid operators, cities, businesses, and energy consumers to have access to a supply of electricity that’s uninterrupted.
