The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
Climate Impacts & AdaptationElectricity GridOff-GridSevere Storms & FloodingSub-National GovernmentsUnited States
Home›Climate Impacts & Adaptation›U.S. Hurricanes Point to Microgrids as Better Path to Reliable Power

U.S. Hurricanes Point to Microgrids as Better Path to Reliable Power

September 17, 2017
September 17, 2017
 
4,922
0
Share:
  •  
  • 4
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    4
    Shares
  Print This Story
United States Marine Core/Wikimedia Commons

With nearly seven million Floridians off the grid in the wake of Hurricane Irma, and many of them likely to wait weeks for power, microgrids are emerging as a consensus option for a region of the United States that is likely to see an increase in severe storms—even if the state’s governor is still “figuring out his feelings” about the reality of human-caused climate change.

While Rick Scott dithers, the people who actual run his state’s electricity system are getting to work. “What we think we’ll see on the west coast [of Florida] is a wholesale rebuild of our electric grid,” Robert Gould, vice president of communications at Florida Power and Light, told ABC last week. And for Francis O’Sullivan, director of research at the MIT Energy Initiative, the effort to avoid future mass blackouts points directly to a more distributed utility system.

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

Microgrids “take a different approach,” he explained. With generation and storage planned and located on a regional basis, what “will happen in an instance like a hurricane is that one region might get damaged, so the generation might be knocked out. That system is going to be able to break away from the others. And those other local systems are going to be able to continue to deliver service to their customers.”

Microgrid Knowledge points to distributed generation as a solution the kind of heartbreaking moment that arose in City of Hollywood, FL, when eight residents of a retirement home died in the sweltering heat after the building lost power. “Other seniors are describing an inability to refrigerate insulin, recharge wheelchairs, plug in oxygen machines, or navigate flights of stairs without elevators—until the power is restored,” notes reporter Elisa Wood.

“A microgrid, which typically has multiple power sources, keeps the electricity flowing during an outage by disconnecting from the damaged grid and using its own onsite generators, and possibly batteries, to serve nearby customers,” she explains.

“Microgrids aren’t just convenient for extreme weather events,” added Justin Day, senior marketing program manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. “They’re critical.”

The discussion of how the grid should adapt and change is taking shape as U.S. utilities contemplate a rebuilt that is “likely to be one of the largest industry restoration efforts in U.S. history,” according to the Edison Electric Institute trade association. While 50,000 utility workers from the U.S. and Canada were standing by to assist the states affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, they faced “the same downed trees, washed-out bridges and roads, and coastal storm surges and flooding that are preventing emergency responders from getting to the worst-hit areas,” Greentech Media reported September 11.

Some segments of the grid will “need to be rebuilt completely before power can be restored,” EEI noted. “This will delay restoration times, and customers should be prepared for the possibility of extended power outages.”

Share:
  •  
  • 4
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    4
    Shares
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
Climate Impacts & AdaptationElectricity GridOff-GridSevere Storms & FloodingSub-National GovernmentsUnited States

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • ‘Humiliated’ Kenney Demands Trade Sanctions, Could Sell Pipeline for Scrap as TC Shuts Down Keystone Construction
      ‘Humiliated’ Kenney Demands Trade Sanctions, Could Sell Pipeline for Scrap as TC Shuts Down Keystone Construction
      January 22, 2021
    • Flurry of Biden Executive Orders Returns U.S. to Paris Agreement, Begins Reversing Trump Deregulatory Agenda
      Flurry of Biden Executive Orders Returns U.S. to Paris Agreement, Begins Reversing Trump Deregulatory Agenda
      January 22, 2021
    • Global Energy Transition Investment Grows 9% in 2020, Hits Record $501 Billion Despite Pandemic
      Global Energy Transition Investment Grows 9% in 2020, Hits Record $501 Billion Despite Pandemic
      January 22, 2021
    • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Embraces Carbon Taxes, Market-Based Climate Policies
      U.S. Chamber of Commerce Embraces Carbon Taxes, Market-Based Climate Policies
      January 22, 2021
    • Power Corp. Division Says $1-Billion Renewables Fund Will Be ‘First of Several’
      Power Corp. Division Says $1-Billion Renewables Fund Will Be ‘First of Several’
      January 22, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Fitch Sees Asian Solar, Wind Exceeding 1,500 GW by 2029
      January 21, 2021
    • Survey Shows Oklahoma, Texas Drawing More Fossil Investment than Alberta
      January 21, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Fitch Sees Asian Solar, Wind Exceeding 1,500 GW by 2029
      January 21, 2021
    • Indigenous Agroforesters Revive Palm Forests in Brazil
      January 21, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Hydrogen Train Deal Brings Investor Attention to B.C-Based Ballard
      January 21, 2021
    • Analysts Tout Intertie Between Site C in B.C., Electricity Demand in Alberta
      January 21, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Climate Change Drives Up Cost of U.S. Flooding
      January 21, 2021
    • ‘Charging Deserts’ for EVs Create Racial Divide in Chicago
      January 21, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • Norway Projects Oil Production Cuts through 2023
      January 21, 2021
    • Japanese Owner Writes Off Australia’s Newest Coal Plant as Worthless
      January 21, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.