How smart microgrids are changing neighbourhoods around the world

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

Both rural and urban communities around the world are looking at ways to secure their energy networks, ensuring that they are resilient in the face of changing needs. Increasingly these communities are looking to microgrids as a way to transform the way their neighbourhoods produce and consume electricity.

Microgrids have already proved particularly successful in rural areas, as an economic alternative to connecting to national grids, but are also popping up in cities. People are looking to protect themselves from outages caused by extreme weather and to help people take advantage of self-generation from intermittent renewables, in particular solar PV systems. Microgrids can offer a solution to both.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Energy Solutions Division of Hitachi America, Alireza Aram, explained in the report: “Against a background of successive natural disasters and terror threats around the world, a steady supply of electricity including measures against power outages is a common social issue for all countries, from Both rural and urban communities around the world are looking at ways to secure energy networks, ensuring that they are resilient in the face of global changes. Increasingly these communities are looking to microgrids as a way to transform the way their neighbourhoods produce and consume electricity.

Microgrids have already proved particularly successful in rural areas as an economic alternative to connecting to national grid, but are also popping up in cities. People look to protect themselves from outages caused by extreme weather and to help people take advantage of self-generation from intermittent renewables, in particular solar PV systems. Microgrids can offer a solution to both.

In a Global Innovation report by Hitachi America, the biggest growing microgrid markets were examined, predicting that worldwide there is likely to be 7,500MW of capacity and a US$35,000 million market by 2024.

As senior vice president and general manager of the the viewpoint of the safety and security of their residents.

“As the introduction of renewable energy proceeds as a measure against global warming, microgrids are looked to as a promising solution to various issues.”

How are microgrids developing though, and how ‘smart’ can a neighbourhood become?

Microgrids: not such a ‘micro’ trend

As a concept microgrids are not particularly new, they have functioned around the world using fossil fuel generation for decades. But as renewable generation technologies have developed along with digitisation, the possibilities they offer have expanded.

In the US there were 2,250 microgrids in 2018 according to Wood Mackenzie, with 545MW of capacity added that year alone. The majority of these microgrids still use standalone fossil-fuel generation, but this is changing as communities and companies take advantage of technologies such as solar and blockchain.

For example, the Brooklyn Microgrid project that was established in 2016 takes advantage of blockchain to allow a collection of homes in the New York suburb to generate power using solar panels, and then use peer-to-peer (P2P) trading. It was the first project of its kind in the US and has continued to expand and receive acclaim over the last few years.

Now there are over 50 homes and businesses within the grid, which is run by LO3 Energy. The desire for a microgrid in the area came after Storm Sandy caused widespread blackouts in New York in 2012, calling the security of the electricity supply into question for many.

Microgrids like this are popping up in communities around the US and Europe, but they are also helping communities in energy-poor countries in Sub-Saharan African and Asia. A Navigant Research report produced in 2018 showed that the Middle East and Africa region was forecast to have the world’s fastest market for microgrids. It suggested that there would be a compound annual growth rate of 27% in these regions, which could represent almost 1,145 by 2027.

In these communities the technology can offer electrification where there hasn’t been any before, bringing a huge range of benefits. Not least among them, such grids can support lighting that allows people to move away from hazardous kerosene lamps, which pose a number of health risks from producing harmful gases to being a fire risk.

The Alabama Smart Neighbourhood: the newest test ground

In Alabama, a microgrid pilot project has been launched to test and trial the neighbourhood of the future. Completed in 2018, the project consists of 62 homes built with advanced energy efficiency measures, home automation and connected to its own microgrid, all integrated together.

While the microgrid can work together with the national grid, it can also be islanded, functioning completely separately, and relying purely on its own generation and storage technologies.

Todd Rath, marketing services director for Alabama Power, who is running the project, explains: “We wanted to create a neighbourhood that would be what we think a standard neighbourhood in the state of Alabama and the southeast would probably look like in the year 2040, and that would include building envelope requirements as well as technologies within the home with appliances and other connected technologies. And using an energy source that may be different than a traditional grid, such as a microgrid with solar, battery storage and those kind of things.”

The neighbourhood is the Southeast’s first community-scale microgrid, according to Alabama Power, and is designed to be a true testing ground, allowing the utility to understand the changing needs and opportunities of those living in Alabama and beyond. Alabama Power is a subsidiary of the Southern Company; a second subsidiary, Georgia Power, is now also running a microgrid project to trial smart technologies.

The Alabama Smart Neighbourhood uses solar panels, battery storage and a backup natural gas generator to create a complete energy system. The microgrid has around 1MWp of electrical output, separated between three components; a 333kW fixed-tilt array, comprising 11 rows of solar modules with string inverters at the end of each row, a lithium-ion battery system provided by Samsung with a capacity of 333kW, and a 400kWp natural gas-fired turbine….

Cover image: Solar arrays that form part of the Alabama Smart Neighbourhood. Image credit: Alabama Power.

To read the rest of the article, take a look atVolume 22 of Solar Media's quarterly journal, PV Tech Power where the article first appeared or PV Tech’s sister site Energy Storage News where it was subsequently published. You can download the whole 104-page book free of charge here, from the PV Tech Store.

8 October 2024
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 8-9 October 2024 is our second PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The event in 2023 was a sell out success and 2024 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
26 November 2024
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2025. PV ModuleTech Europe 2024 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.
11 March 2025
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.
17 June 2025
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 17-18 June 2025, will be our fourth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2026 and beyond.

Read Next

June 28, 2024
The Net-Zero Industry Act will come into force starting from 29 June 2024 across all 27 member states of the EU.
June 28, 2024
The US generated 18,938GWh of electricity from utility-scale solar in April 2024, accounting for 6.1% of its total electricity generation.
June 28, 2024
Renewable energy sources provided 44.7% of the EU’s electricity consumption in 2023, according to data from Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistical office.
June 28, 2024
New South Wales, Australia, has received planning approval for the Central-West Orana REZ transmission project.
June 28, 2024
Townsville, Queensland, will be the latest local renewable energy zone (LREZ) in Australia as the state expands its solar PV capabilities.
June 28, 2024
AEMC has published a ‘final rule’ claiming it will “create a more clear and pragmatic grid connection process” and aid solar deployment.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
July 2, 2024
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
July 9, 2024
Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore
Upcoming Webinars
July 10, 2024
9am (BST) / 10am (CEST)
Solar Media Events
September 24, 2024
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
September 24, 2024
Singapore, Asia