The Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will fund up to $220 million of R&D projects to modernize America’s aging power grid infrastructure over the next three years. Accompanying this, DOE released its ¨Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan¨ (MYPP), a strategic blueprint that informs and guides a national R&D agenda involving a consortium of DOE National Laboratories. The Grid Modernization …

In addition to microgrid deployments, advanced battery energy storage systems are also increasingly being used by utilities and independent system operators (ISOs) responsible for managing state and regional power grids. The Sumitomo Group’s Wiley Battery Utility LLC on January 13 announced it is ready to commission an innovative, utility-scale battery storage system in Hamilton County, Ohio. With a maximum power …

Founded in 2014 by the non-profit California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), CalCharge is leveraging its growing roster of member companies and working relationships with three San Francisco Bay area national labs to create an energy storage R&D and industry hub in California. On January 11, Calcharge announced Alex Luce had been named its new program director. Microgrid Media spoke with Luce to …

A strategic focus on an open, collaborative approach to microgrid technology and applications is paying dividends at Cleveland-based industrial engineering multinational Eaton Corp. It also earned the privately-held corporation a Berkeley-Haas Open Innovation Award. Eaton placed second in the Berkeley-Haas Business Transformation category of this year’s competition in recognition of its success in ¨leveraging open innovation to transform corporate culture, launch …

Highly reliable, secure broadband network connectivity and automated machine-to-machine communications (M2M) – aka Internet of Things (IoT) – lie at the core of the growing number of Smart City initiatives that have been cropping up in the U.S. and around the world in recent years. That’s opening up wide new vistas for companies throughout the telecoms and Internet industry value …

Analysts at Transparency Market Research forecast the global microgrid market will expand at a 20.7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2014 and 2020. Pegging the value of the market at $9.8 billion in 2013, the market research provider expects it will reach $35.1 billion by the end of the decade. Supported by funding from government programs that aim …

Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) has launched a two-year, $1 million project that entails using solar panels, advanced battery and smart grid technology to test the capacity of microgrids to supply electrical power for critical infrastructure and public emergency/disaster management services. In addition to enhancing grid resiliency, disaster and emergency response and management, the two-year microgrid test project will …

Vermont was one of the first U.S. states to enact virtual net metering (VNM), adding to its reputation as a clean energy leader. State and local energy reforms such as enacting VNM are essential if the U.S. is to succeed in making the transition to distributed, clean energy resources. The number of Vermont residents, businesses and municipalities installing PV systems …

The advent of automated demand response (ADR) technology is enabling owners of commercial and industrial (C&I) facilities to earn revenues and reduce their energy bills by helping distribution utilities enhance grid operations and management. Given the scale of distribution utility grids, this has given rise to energy services companies (ESCOs) that contract with grid operators to aggregate ADR systems at …

With the potential to provide access to emissions-free electricity for the nearly half of the American population unable to host a rooftop solar PV system, community solar is on the rise in the United States.  A variation on the theme of shared solar, White House support and new state energy regulations are paving the way forward. Significantly, community solar gives …