U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) officials commissioned the first U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) grid-tied microgrid integrating both renewable resources and energy storage during a ribbon cutting ceremony today at Fort Bliss, Texas. The project was funded by the DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program. via Smart Grid: First-ever military microgrid demonstration marks Continue reading →
“You can’t throw a stone at a smart grid conference these days and not hit a panel talking about microgrids,” writes Katherine Tweed in a recent piece in The Energy Collective. “The chatter is incessant, but the actual work done to date has been far more limited.” via Smart Grid: The secret to the microgrid Continue reading →
The first is the growing strength of the microgrid trend. Oh sure, mainstreaming is still two or three years away, but many people now believe microgrids will be a large part of our energy future. More importantly, many people are now underway on pilots and small deployments. The second is the idea of microgrid-as-a-service. Think Continue reading →
The first is the growing strength of the microgrid trend. Oh sure, mainstreaming is still two or three years away, but many people now believe microgrids will be a large part of our energy future. More importantly, many people are now underway on pilots and small deployments. via Smart Grid: How about microgrids as a Continue reading →
Last month, Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, introduced Senate Bill 105 into the current legislative session. Endorsed by the Science, Technology and Telecommunications Committee, the bill calls for the appropriation of $1 million to the Santa Fe Community College to develop a smart-grid workforce training program and a microgrid innovation laboratory, research park and testing Continue reading →
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) has a strong interest in improving energy security through microgrid technology, stemming from its heavy reliance upon all forms of fossil fuels—often imported from regions of the world hostile to U.S. interests. Indeed, the DOD’s efforts may be the strongest driver for the overall microgrid market today, especially Continue reading →
Top industry experts will gather to discuss potential of microgrids in helping deliver energy reliability, security, and sustainability worldwide. January 3, 2013 (CHICAGO) – Interest in microgrids as a strategy for ensuring energy security and reliability is growing worldwide, especially in the wake of events such as Hurricane Sandy. Military installations, hospitals, data centers and Continue reading →
Research commissioned by IEEE and conducted by Zpryme details how energy storage, distributed generation and microgrid technologies will evolve globally over the next five years due to rapid smart grid deployment. The report comes to some interesting conclusions. First, private and public sector funding for microgrid, distributed generation and grid-level storage research and development, and Continue reading →
esearch commissioned by IEEE and conducted by Zpryme details how energy storage, distributed generation and microgrid technologies will evolve globally over the next five years due to rapid smart grid deployment. The report comes to some interesting conclusions. First, private and public sector funding for microgrid, distributed generation and grid-level storage research and development, and Continue reading →
Burns & McDonnell won approval from Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii to begin construction of the Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Phase I project at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH). Burns & McDonnell was awarded the SPIDERS Phase I design-build project on December 2, 2011. Since the contract award, Continue reading →
Public and private sector officials from Japan joined New Mexico officials and Mesa del Sol representatives Thursday morning to unveil a microgrid that will power the master-planned development’s Aperture Center. Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) invested about $10 million to build the microgrid, which will use on-site solar, fuel cell, natural Continue reading →
The year 2011 signaled a shift in the microgrid sector, as some of the first large-scale commercial microgrid projects reached significant milestones. With the adoption of newly created IEEE islanding standards in July 2011, the shift from pilot validation projects to fully commercial projects accelerated, as evidenced by the large jump in planned, proposed, and Continue reading →
ZBB Energy Corp. won a contract to provide a ZBB EnerSystem integrated power management system for a microgrid installation at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam U.S. Military base in Honolulu, Hawaii. Manufactured at the company’s Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin facility, the ZBB EnerSystem will include a ZBB EnerSection power and energy control center combined with Continue reading →
An $11.7 million microgrid project designed and built by Chevron Energy Solutions will mean Santa Rita Jail in California’s Alameda County can sustain power for daily operations and security if its connection to the grid is interrupted. The jail’s onsite power generation integrates with energy storage to ensure power is never lost. The microgrid also allows Continue reading →
The global microgrid market is growing up, according to cleantech research firm Pike Research. According to its new tracker report, pilot projects are fading and deployment of full-scale commercial microgrids is accelerating quickly – so much so that three subsegments in the remote microgrid market (village power systems, weak grid island systems and industrial mine Continue reading →
When it comes to a sense of urgency, there’s nothing like the armed services of the United States. As previously documented in this space, the U.S. Department of Defense “gets it” when it comes to energy efficiency and self-sufficiency: they add up to energy independence and that means security. (See “Military Microgrids: a Journey.”) via Continue reading →
Borrego Springs, a progressive desert community located in San Diego County, is well known as a year-round center for astronomy research. In fact, the small town situated on the edge of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was designated as California’s first International Dark-Sky Community to keep the star gazing sky as clear as possible. When Continue reading →
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District has long been seen as a clean technology pioneer. After all, this is a utility that shuttered a nuclear reactor after a public vote in 1989 and has since blazed trails on wind, solar and energy efficiency. The company’s corporate headquarters will soon show off a new technology – a Continue reading →
The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories has awarded New Jersey-based Petra Solar a $3 million contract to commercialize its technology for the nation’s energy grid. Part of the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Program, the contract will help Petra continue to develop electric grid stabilization, micro-grid and smart grid technologies with the goal of Continue reading →
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has selected participants for the Japan-U.S. Smart Grid Collaborative Demonstration Project, which will soon be initiated in New Mexico. The central purpose of this collaborative project – comprising NEDO, the State of New Mexico government, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) – Continue reading →
