E – 2005 Introduction to Microgrids Parallel & Islanded Operations Impact of Renewables’ Widespread and Climate Change Goals

Microgrids have been getting very popular post superstorm Sandy which caused major damage and customer disruption on the East Coast in 2012. There is a strong correlation between microgrids and system resiliency. The lower the utility’s reliability scores, the more lucrative microgrids will be. There are various definitions for microgrids, however, a microgrid is simply small or multiple customers that have local power resources to supply their partial or full load locally during utility interruptions. Most microgrids typically consisted of a small-scale gas-fired generator, i.e. fuel-cell or combined heat & power (CHP); however, many states have recently adopted an opposing view of natural gas resources, thus many microgrids have replaced the natural gas resources with distributed energy resources (DERs), i.e. solar and energy storage. Also, being that microgrids are expensive to build, operate, and maintain, many microgrids will now operate in parallel with the grid on a 24/7 basis instead of during major utility disturbances. Electric vehicles will play a critical role as well. This paper will address key technical and regulatory challenges that are impeding the further adoption of microgrids. President Biden and the Department of Energy have been focusing on microgrids and providing the necessary financial support to further advance their designs and address all the known challenges. Operating a microgrid that relies on DERs whose generation varies with the weather is more complex and requires advanced tools to match load and intermittent generation.