Community Microgrids
USAID, RBL Bank Partner to Expand Off-Grid, Rooftop Solar in India
The $75 million USAID loan guarantee will significantly enhance RBL's ability to extend loans to Indian SMBs installing off-grid and rooftop solar energy systems in poorly served communities, thereby contributing to achieving India's national greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy and sustainable development goals.
Read more →Postcard From the Future? Ta'u Island Ditches Diesel With Tesla-SolarCity Microgrid
In 'Before The Flood,' Elon Musk tells Leonardo DiCaprio that just 100 Gigafactories would be enough to move the entire world to sustainable energy. While critics scoffed, Tesla and SolarCity were busy building the prototype. Just days after the Tesla-SolarCity…
Read more →ABB, Indian Institute of Technology Microgrid Partnership To Boost Climate-Smart Rural Electrification Drive
ABB and IIT Madras aim to develop a “microgrid of microgrids” platform that if successful should make a substantial contribution to realization of India's ambitious renewable energy and rural electrification goals.
Read more →LO3 Energy Takes Blockchain Microgrid Energy Trading Platform Down Under
Brooklyn, NY-based LO3 Energy is leveraging initial demo installations in the U.S. in a bid to expand globally. Management on Nov. 3 announced it has established itself in Byron Bay, Australia where it is in discussions with local energy market players to build demo installations and pilot P2P energy trading platforms based on Ethereum smart contracts and blockchain RDBMS technology.
Read more →Solar Microgrid Helps Save Lives, Brighten Prospects in Rural Myanmar
A community solar-energy storage is delivering emissions-free electricity throughout a village in Myanmar's central Dry Zone, enabling health clinic staff to store anti-venom and treat snakebite victims on-site for the first time.
Read more →Haiti Microgrid Developer Wakes Up To Daunting New Role In Wake Of Hurricane Matthew
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, Sigora was on hand to support emergency relief efforts. Now the clean energy microutility is raising $96k and leveraging its supply chain, private sector networks, and local community ties to get critical assistance…
Read more →Vulcan Impact Investing Makes its Mark with Rural Kenya Solar Mini-grids
Vulcan's impact investing team lay out the challenges they have faced, and the solutions they've come up with, in the two years it has owned and operated 10 off-grid, solar-powered mini-grids serving communities in rural Kenya.
Read more →Blockchain and the Rise of Peer-to-Peer Power Markets
Mirror images of one another, blockchain-based P2P transaction networks and distributed energy resource management platforms seem to go hand-in-glove. It may be years before the first large-scale commercial platforms are launched, however.
Read more →PwC Identifies 3 Key Strategic Elements for Microgrid Market Success
Microgrid market participants will be well served if they incorporate a “total solution” approach, along with two other key elements, in their strategic business plans, according to PwC.
Read more →New Community Microgrid Projects Crop Up in Seattle and Santa Monica
Community microgrids are cropping up in a growing number of states as government, civic and business leaders look to shore up energy security, grid reliability and resilience, contain cost increases and reduce environmental pollution.
Read more →Watch This Fishing Village In Haiti Get Transformed by A Solar Microgrid
Sigora Solar recently completed a solar powered microgrid in Mole Saint Nicolas, Haiti - a remote fishing village seven hours by truck from Port Au Prince. Sigora is a for-profit company that bills themselves as the green utility. The microgrid…
Read more →These Companies Can Deploy A Mobile Microgrid in Days
An underappreciated aspect of decentralized renewable energy is the speed at which an entire mobile microgrid can be deployed and communities can be transformed by clean energy. It is a sharp contrast from large, centralized grid infrastructure that has failed…
Read more →What is a Milligrid? How do they differ from Microgrids?
According to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and the Department of Energy, a Milligrid is a type of microgrid that involves a segment of the legacy regulated utility grid. This differs from a true microgrid, which are wholly on one site…
Read more →Bipartisan Microgrid Support Helps Push Energy Bill Forward
At 85-12, the senate has passed the first energy bill since 2007 with overwhelming bi-partisan support. It's a historic $37.5 billion energy and water bill that could shape the energy transition in the United States in a more directed, thoughtful…
Read more →NY Prize Pushing Community Microgrids Beyond Feasibility Studies
NYSERDA is now accepting applications for detailed designing, engineering, and business plans for microgrids in the state of New York. The RFP is the second stage of the NY Prize, which made $40 million in state funds available to…
Read more →Brooklyn Startup Broadens Solar Power Access with P2P Energy Exchange
Back in the 1990s the advent of peer-to-peer (P2P) computing sites such as Napster turned reproduction and distribution of music, then TV programs and films, upside down and inside out. A small Brooklyn startup is now looking to do the…
Read more →Solar Kiosk Turns a Sleepy Kenyan Village Into An Urban Center
After decades of failed initiatives to extend electricity access, over 600 million people in Africa still do not have access to electricity. With current trends, it will take until 2080 for everyone in Africa to have access to electricity.…
Read more →"It's Like The Early Days of the Internet," Blockchain-based Brooklyn Microgrid Tests P2P Energy Trading
“When the internet was first introduced, it was hard to conceive of the drastic impact it would have on the world. We’ve got all the parts to do some…
Read more →Rural Electrification to Fuel Microgrid Market Expansion
The market for microgrids – grid-connected, off-grid or hybrid – will expand at a 10.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to an estimated $34.94 billion from 2016-2022, according to new market research from Markets and Markets.
Read more →New Report Shows How Legacy Market Design Stifles Community Microgrid Potential
The Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) has released a report, Mighty Microgrids, with recommendations for unlocking the benefits community microgrids. Though the report labels microgrids as unstoppable, it lists several key barriers keeping ratepayers from seeing the…
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