You may have heard the term microgrid before. You know how the grid works to connect
bulk power to our homes and businesses. Well, a microgrid, as you can probably tell by the name, is a smaller scale system. It can power a single facility or it can power a larger area.
For example, in Fort Collins, Colorado, the community has a microgrid attached to the larger grid as a key way for them to meet their goal. And that goal is to be a community that produces the same amount of energy it uses.
You look at a very innovative utility up in Fort Collins, for example, where they're very aggressively exploring sort of distributive generation in the terms of microgrids. And their Fort Zed project where the community utilities working with the research university up there. Pushing the envelope on what's possible.
Microgrids can be powered by distributed generators, batteries, or solar power. Which is why it's at the forefront of some area's plans for deploying more renewable resources. It operates while connected to the larger grid as I mentioned. The main benefit of this is if there's some type of an issue like an emergency situation a switch can separate the microgrid from the main grid, and then it acts independently. Some communities have opted for a microgrid to be used in case of an emergency backup power system. Others use it to connect a local power source. So If they feel that this power source is too small or too intermittent for them to use on the main grid, they're able to use it through a microgrid. In this way, communities will make this choice to become more environmentally friendly.
bulk power to our homes and businesses. Well, a microgrid, as you can probably tell by the name, is a smaller scale system. It can power a single facility or it can power a larger area.
A microgrid is just a small version of a grid, but it is, in the case of a microgrid, designed to provide a local solution. So you can actually design a microgrid to meet the needs of something like a 100-year flood, for example.
For example, in Fort Collins, Colorado, the community has a microgrid attached to the larger grid as a key way for them to meet their goal. And that goal is to be a community that produces the same amount of energy it uses.
You look at a very innovative utility up in Fort Collins, for example, where they're very aggressively exploring sort of distributive generation in the terms of microgrids. And their Fort Zed project where the community utilities working with the research university up there. Pushing the envelope on what's possible.
Microgrids can be powered by distributed generators, batteries, or solar power. Which is why it's at the forefront of some area's plans for deploying more renewable resources. It operates while connected to the larger grid as I mentioned. The main benefit of this is if there's some type of an issue like an emergency situation a switch can separate the microgrid from the main grid, and then it acts independently. Some communities have opted for a microgrid to be used in case of an emergency backup power system. Others use it to connect a local power source. So If they feel that this power source is too small or too intermittent for them to use on the main grid, they're able to use it through a microgrid. In this way, communities will make this choice to become more environmentally friendly.
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