Category: Microgrid Types

Solar microgrids are electricity generators created when batteries are connected to solar panels. They turn the sun’s rays into free, clean, on-demand electricity.

These fantastic tools lower energy bills and cut pollution while expanding electricity access in urban, rural, and uninhabited environments.

To get a better sense of how solar microgrids operate, impact, our lives, and compare with other energy options, let’s explore…

1. What solar microgrids are
2. How solar microgrids work
3. How to identify a solar microgrid
4. Why we choose solar microgrids
5. Who uses solar microgrids
6. Where to get a solar microgrid

What is a solar microgrid?

A solar microgrid is a micro version of the grid that generates electricity from the sun. They’re a type of renewable microgrid because their fuel, sunlight, is renewable and unlimited…at least for the next 5 billion years.

Solar microgrids come in various shapes, sizes, and levels of complexity, but they all have these 3 core components:

1. Solar panel(s)
2. Battery(s)
3. Power control system

The solar panels soak up the sun’s rays and convert the electrons into power you can use. The batteries are the energy reserve. The power control system can enable you to adjust and monitor energy input, electricity output, and the available backup power.

People are rapidly using solar microgrids to cut their reliance on large, centralized grids and carbon-based fuels because solar microgrids can provide cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable power.

Solar microgrids are likely already electrifying buildings, transportation, and activities in your community. Across the globe, they power utility companies, hospitals, schools, prisons, businesses, communities, homeowners, travelers, warfighters, and adventurers.

How does a solar microgrid work?

When the sun’s rays hit a solar microgrid’s solar panels, their energy is collected by the panel’s solar cells and converted into useable electricity or saved in the battery as backup power. The solar microgrid’s operator uses its control system to determine when and how the energy is used.

A solar microgrid’s interconnected energy collection, power storage, and electricity generation capabilities create an electric island. Everyone on the electric island gets reliable and essentially unlimited electricity.

We can attach solar microgrids to a broader power grid and then island when desired, or they can permanently operate as fully independent grids. Either way, you get to keep the lights on regardless of what’s happening in the seas surrounding your electric island.

The scale of solar microgrids’ solar systems varies greatly. Some have solar systems that are only a few watts (W), while others are over 20 kilowatts (kW). The smallest microgrids power small electronics, while the largest can ones serve 100s of households, facilities, and small businesses.

Solar microgrids’ electricity generators

An electricity generator fulfills the microgrid’s core function: turning an energy source into electricity you can use. For solar microgrids, the generators are solar panels. Some solar microgrids have multiple generators; primarily generating electricity with solar panels and using wind turbines or diesel generators to provide additional power.

Solar microgrids’ energy reserves

Having an energy reserve enables microgrids to provide on-demand power. Batteries are solar microgrids’ energy reserves. Typically, solar microgrid batteries store energy using a lead-acid or lithium-ion composition.

Solar microgrids’ power controls

Sophisticated microgrids use software to connect and manage the energy reserve and electricity generator. This enables the solar microgrid’s operator to control the energy input, electricity output, and available backup power. Grid-connected solar microgrids’ software can detect disruptions on the grid and island when needed. Portable solar microgrids, like the ones people carry on backpacking trips, often have much simpler power controls—consisting of a few buttons that turn on and off electrical circuits.

Identifying a solar microgrid

Microgrids vs. solar microgrids

Microgrids are tools that independently store energy and generate electricity. Some are interconnected to the grid, and others operate as fully independent electric islands. Regardless, they’re attractive to people, facilities, and communities for their ability to avoid power outages and reduce peak demand or to electrify areas without access to grid energy.

Since their inception in the 1800s, microgrids have generated electricity using diesel and gas-burning engines. Many of these old-school fossil fuel microgrids still operate today, but in the 21st century, savvy operators are upgrading to renewable microgrids powered by clean energy technologies, like solar panels, wind turbines, hydropower, fuel cells, and heat pumps.

Solar microgrids improve upon traditional fossil-fuel-powered microgrids’ capabilities by generating power with solar panels – providing electricity that’s cleaner, cheaper, and free of fuel stockpiles or pipelines. Solar microgrids are the most widely used type of renewable microgrids.

Within a decade, solar microgrids will be the most used microgrids across the globe.

Solar arrays vs. solar microgrids

Solar panels and solar microgrids are great tools for generating power with the sun’s energy. The panels have photovoltaic cells that collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. Multiple interconnected solar panels are called solar arrays. Solar microgrids are local, independent power grids producing electricity with solar panels.

A solar array with an attached battery and power control system is a solar microgrid. Unlike standalone solar panels or arrays, a solar microgrid unlocks 24-hour electricity access by adding battery storage.

Another advantage unique to a solar microgrid is the power management system’s ability to island the microgrid from a centralized grid’s network. In the event of a natural disaster, power outage, or soaring utility prices, a solar microgrid owner can choose to island and continue affordably having uninterrupted power. Non-islanding electricity generators connected to the grid, like a solar array, shut off when the grid goes down so that they don’t put electricity into wires that utility company workers may need to fix.

After Hurricane Sandy battered the Atlantic coast of the US in 2012, many people with solar panels suffered without electricity for weeks, but those with microgrids, like NYU’s campus in New York City, kept their lights on.

Why do people choose solar microgrids?

Solar microgrids have many benefits. They offer us reliability, flexibility, sustainability, and savings.

Reliable electricity

People increasingly choose solar microgrids to power their lives to can directly control electricity production and have an energy source that’s more reliable than the local grid.

The grid has always experienced power outages, but they’re becoming more frequent as infrastructure ages and the growing climate crisis makes weather more extreme. Solar microgrids are more reliable because they’re autonomous electric islands. On these islands, you store energy, generate electricity, control when and how you use the power, and tap into an unlimited energy source—the sun.

A solar microgrid can island automatically when it detects disruptions in the grid. Ensuring our energy supply is not interrupted by unexpected power outages.

Community solar microgrids electrify grid-connected and off-grid communities. Grid-connected communities use them to achieve greater energy independence and cost savings, and solar microgrids are often the only way for off-grid communities to electrify.

Adopting solar and other renewable microgrids is essential to evolving our energy use to keep up with the changing times. It’s now possible to enhance convenience and equality of life by cutting the cord with unreliable centralized power grids.

Clean energy

Toxic emissions and pollution from burning fossil fuels are concerning for our health today and preserving a liveable planet for the people being born this year. Fortunately, solar microgrids provide free, reliable, and non-polluting electricity. Cleaner and more efficient power systems are critical to protecting us all. 

Producing your own power from a local source is more efficient than purchasing it from utility companies because we avoid the energy loss that comes from sending electricity long distances over transmission lines. Plus, most utility companies generate much of their electricity from burning dirty fossil fuels. Adding insult to injury, we exhaust even more energy transporting the fossil fuels from where they are dug up (or cut down) to where we burn them to create electricity. By using a solar microgrid to replace grid electricity, you’re able to productively use more electricity and avoid producing toxic and weather-changing emissions.

By reducing our carbon footprint today with solar microgrids, we make a positive lasting impact on our bodies, communities, and children.

Low-cost power

Most people want to use more energy and save money on energy bills. The good is getting a solar microgrid will likely lower your energy bills, unlock more useable power, and provide peace of mind.

Renewable microgrids produce free electricity by collecting available energy from natural local sources and converting it into electricity. Once you purchase the solar microgrid equipment, the electricity will remain free for as long as our sun is.  

A solar microgrid connected to the grid assures predictable, affordable energy bills by limiting your susceptibility to volatile fossil fuel prices and utility companies’ increasing charges. Just island, or better yet, sell your stored excess energy when energy prices are high. You can always switch back to grid power during the utility company’s low-price periods.

Recently, Electric Islands examined how much money a solar microgrid can save homeowners in US states each year, discovering that households in many states save $100s to $1000s annually. Those savings will likely increase yearly due to the steady price decreases for solar microgrid technologies and the increasing cost of grid electricity.

The Clean Coalition’s Community Microgrid Initiative has set out to prove that solar microgrids can provide at least 25% of Puerto Rico’s consumed electricity while maintaining grid reliability and power quality by 2025. This initiative occurred after 2017’s Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s grid and electricity for months. One of these solar microgrids is in Yabucoa and has provided a lifeline for the town during subsequent grid outages. The microgrid has provided residents with a clean, reliable energy system serving people’s basic needs during outages while generating free electricity.

Solar microgrids reduce air pollution, produce electricity locally, create local jobs, and lower energy bills. Investing in them and other local renewable energy sources secures our energy independence and ensures that your community has reliable, clean, and affordable electricity.

Who uses a solar microgrid?

We use solar microgrids for many reasons, from powering homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses to running irrigation pumps for agriculture, illuminating streetlights, and electricity on the go. Let’s meet a few of today’s solar microgrid users:

Entrepreneurs powering businesses

In Uganda electricity is in short supply. It’s one of the least electrified countries on the planet.

Ben Male, an enterprising Ugandan in the Kampala area, faced a severe dilemma a few years back. He needed money to cover the school fees for seven children, but nearby job opportunities were minimal and low-paid, and his earnings from farming and brick-making weren’t enough to cover the schooling for all of the children.

So, he devised a plan to open gaming centers in nearby off-grid communities. But first, he needed a way to power the centers. 

His solution? Set up a solar microgrid at each center powered by a 200-watt solar panel. 

Today, he operates 2 gaming centers, is constructing a larger 3rd center with a pool table and bar, and, most importantly, has funds for schooling. Ben’s goal is to eventually run 10 solar microgrid-powered locations.

Facilities keeping the lights on

Facilities of all types are using solar microgrids to ensure operations are uninterrupted.

In 2019, the Shatz Energy Research Center doubled the Blue Lake Rancheria’s solar microgrid battery capacity to 1150kW/1950kWh, serving tribal lands in California’s Humbolt Bay.

The timing was fortuitous. That fall, the local utility company shut off its nearby powerlines to prevent sparking a wildfire, leaving the microgrid to be the sole power source for the area. Its electricity powered the United Indian Health Services, allowing them to keep critical medications refrigerated and save 8 lives. The health center also provided a place for locals to charge their cell phones to follow news updates and inform families.

Homeowners wanting peace of mind

Homeowners across the globe are opting to power their houses with solar microgrids. Freeing themselves from the worries of high electric bills, power outages, and creating air pollution.

John Rettinger, also known as the TechnoBuffalo, has a house in California with a Tesla solar microgrid. John’s solar panels power the home in the morning and charge his EVs’ batteries. At noon, he stops receiving the energy and begins selling it to his utility company, Southern California Edison (SCE). In the evening, he switches back to using solar before the sun sets and then transitions to battery power.

Watch this video to see how having a solar microgrid has changed John’s life.

People on the move

There are portable versions of solar microgrids. Enabling us to create an electric island wherever life takes us.

It’s key for Backcountry-ers like entrepreneur and ecologist Lindsey Davis, to keep her tools and communication devices powered during long off-grid adventures. According to Lindsey, “You never know when you’re going to have to set up camp. By having a way to generate my own power, I’ve found it allows me to stay out longer and truly have a ‘base camp’ I can rely on.”

Where to get a solar microgrid

So now you’re likely asking yourself, how do I get a solar microgrid? The good news is there’s likely a supplier in your area who can sell or lease one to you, but which supplier is the best option will depend on your location and how you plan to use the microgrid. 

First, decide if you want the solar microgrid to be portable, power a home, service a business or facility, or electrify a whole community. Then check out the suppliers below to see if they service your area or if your local suppliers offer similar products and services.

Portable solar microgrid

LuminAID and Goal Zero sell portable solar microgrids that are perfect for your backpack, vehicle, or apartment. They range in price from $50-$2.5K. Both companies make high-quality products that I can recommend from personal experience. But if you’re on a tight budget, you can likely find other brands offering reliable portable solar microgrids at a lower price point.

Home solar microgrids

Home solar microgrid options vary substantially based on the region and country where you live. Often, you can buy or lease a solar system, battery, and management software from different manufacturers or service providers and combine them to create a solar microgrid, but it’s often easier to set them up and get a better warranty if you procure them from the same source. 

Home solar microgrid prices range from as low as a few thousand dollars to over $50K. It all depends on how much energy you need and the brand(s) you choose. There’s a vast range in the quality and service of components, so it’s vital to do your research. 

Enphase, Tesla, and Maxeon (known as SunPower in the US) are some of the most well-known solar microgrid brands worldwide. These and many home solar microgrid companies also offer solar microgrids that power businesses or whole communities.

Community solar microgrids

The bigger the microgrid, the more it needs to be customized for the user(s). Many companies, organizations, and governments focus on installing solar microgrids for whole communities to enhance energy independence, access electricity for the first time, and protect themselves from devastating power outages. Check out Clean Coalition, Ilumexico, ENGIE, and the Rocky Mountain Institute to learn how these organizations support community microgrid development.

Microgrid Knowledge is an excellent resource for discovering who is providing community-level microgrids worldwide.

Asking friends, family, or even energy companies servicing your area about local solar microgrid suppliers is a great way to find available options and maybe even get a referral discount. If they can’t point you toward a company that has what you’re looking for, search online. 

Asking friends, family, or even the utility company(s) servicing your area about local solar microgrid suppliers is a great way to find available options and get a referral discount. You can also search online to discover more companies and organizations offering what you want.

After the sun sets in Yucatán, Mexico, a microgrid powers a boy’s reading light inside of his off-grid home.

In California, the warden of a maximum security prison uses a microgrid to ensure his facilities stay electrified.

Microgrids restored power to Puerto Rican communities reeling from Hurricane Maria’s destruction.

So what are these life-changing microgrids?

What a microgrid is

A microgrid is a tool that independently stores energy and generates electricity. 

Microgrids give us power without relying on a massive centralized network of poles, wires, generators, and substations run by utility companies – what we commonly refer to as “the grid“.

A microgrid is a smaller, independent grid that electrifies a specific area, building, or individual.

There are many types of microgrids, but all of them have these 3 core components:

1. An electricity generator
2. An energy reserve
3. A power management system

Combining these 3 components to create a microgrid enables us to power electronics, vehicles, homes, businesses, facilities, and even whole communities. Some microgrids are very simple in construction and use, while others are complex systems.

You may just be discovering that microgrids exist, but they’re likely already powering life all around you. Across the globe, utility companies, hospitals, schools, prisons, communities, warfighters, homeowners, travelers, and adventurers use them.

Why? Should you use a microgrid?

Microgrids capabilities

Microgrids enable us to generate our own electricity, unshackling us from relying on large centralized power grids and stockpiling fuel.

The first microgrid was invented by Thomas Edison in New York City in 1882, but only in the past 10 years have they become widely adopted. That’s because recently distributed energy resources (DERs) are increasingly affordable for communities, businesses, and individuals. We’ve also recognized microgrids’ ability to deliver reliable power while many utility companies struggle to do so. Plus, new software and energy programs unlock money-making opportunities for microgrid owners. 

Across the globe, we’re using microgrids to…

• Stay safe: Microgrids providing reliable backup power enable us to keep our hospitals, homes, and devices powered even as aging infrastructure and ever more destructive weather lead to more frequent grid outages. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the island’s grid was down for months, which tragically created far more death and destruction than the hurricane itself.

• Relieve stress: Prolonged blackouts are devastating. We’re left in the dark until the utility company can fix the problem…unless we have a microgrid. Microgrids offer families, doctors, soldiers, and even prison wardens the peace of mind that they won’t be left powerless. At the Santa Rita jail in Dublin, California, they built a microgrid to ensure the jail is always electrified and secure. 
•  Save money: Switching to microgrid power often saves money on energy bills. By locally producing electricity and storing energy, taxpayers avoid the massive costs of building and maintaining power plants and transmission lines. Plus, microgrid owners can make money by selling the electricity and renting their batteries’ extra storage to utility companies. SunPower estimates that their customers with residential microgrids can earn $100-1000/yr.
• Live sustainably: Microgrids powered by clean energy technologies, like solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells, produce electricity that’s cheaper and cleaner than utility companies’ production from burning fossil fuels. These renewable microgrids cut air pollution and help us fight the climate crisis.
• Access electricity: 1 billion of us still don’t have electricity at home. Not so long ago, much of the world’s population also didn’t have a phone at home. Then cell phones arrived, and everything changed. Today, microgrids, particularly solar microgrids, are unlocking electricity access in communities that never had access to the grid.

How microgrids work

Microgrids use the energy from sources like gasoline or sunlight to generate electricity and store backup power. Control of when and how the electricity is generated and energy is stored comes from the microgrid’s power management system.

The electricity generator

Electricity generation is a microgrid’s core function. The generators can be combustion engines that burn fossil fuels or clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells. Regardless of the energy source, they’re designed to reliably provide on-demand power.

The energy reserve

An energy reserve enables microgrids to provide on-demand power. Microgrids store energy in fuel stockpiles, gas tanks, or, commonly, batteries.

The power management

Sophisticated microgrids use software to connect and coordinate the operations of the energy reserve and electricity generator. In doing so, you get control of the microgrid’s energy input, electricity output, and available backup power.

If a microgrid were the human body, then the power management system would be the brain, the reserve is its layer of fat, and the generator is its muscle.

What is not a microgrid

Microgrids require the ability to both generate power and store energy.

So, an electricity generator, like a solar panel, without an energy reserve, like a battery, is not a microgrid. And, an energy reserve without a generator is not a microgrid.

By definition, a microgrid needs to be able to keep the electrons flowing without relying on the grid or external electricity. Rooftop solar panels on a grid-connected home aren’t microgrids because a) they stop producing electricity when the sun sets b) as a safety precaution, they actually stop producing electricity when the grid has an outage.

People are often surprised to learn that solar-powered homes lose power when there’s an outage on the grid. They need to be connected to a home battery to become a microgrid and provide continuous power.

The diversity of microgrids

Microgrids’ uses and users are diverse because microgrids come in so many shapes and sizes. You need to know about the different microgrid configurations to pick one that meets your needs.

Fossil-fuel vs. renewable microgrids

Fossil vs. Renewable.

Dirty vs. Clean.

Traditional vs. Modern.

Dependent vs. Independent.

There are many ways to compare the energy sources our microgrids use.

Since microgrids’ inception, we’ve used diesel and gas-burning engines to generate electricity. Many of these old-school fossil fuel microgrids operate today.

But we can generate electricity more efficiently, sustainably, and cost-effectively this century with clean energy technologies. Renewable microgrids generate electricity with solar panels, wind turbines, hydropower, fuel cells, and heat pumps, which collect energy from locally abundant natural sources.

A microgrid’s energy storage depends on whether it’s fossil or renewable. Fossil microgrids rely on fuel, which requires a stockpile to secure backup power. Renewable microgrids hold power in batteries recharged by locally abundant clean energy.

It’s common to see hybrid microgrids that can generate electricity from fossil fuel and clean energy resources.

It’s Electric Islands’ mission to unlock energy independence. Renewable microgrids are the only microgrids capable of producing electricity without relying on a pipeline or stockpile to supply fuel, making them self-sufficient and true electric islands. 

Networked or standalone?

Some microgrids are standalone units others are interconnected networks. Interconnected microgrids are a network of energy storage and electricity generators that form a unified whole. In contrast, standalone microgrids are single units that produce and store all the power in the same location. 

Standalone microgrids have generators, such as solar systems, fuel cells, gas generators, wind turbines, and storage devices, like batteries, flywheels, supercapacitors, or compressed air tanks.

Interconnected microgrids’ components are geographically spread apart and use multiple generators and reserves, allowing them to access a more significant electrical load. They frequently service neighborhoods, towns, and large facilities.

Grid connection? It’s up to you.

Microgrids’ utility are in their ability to disperse electricity without drawing on the utility companies’ labyrinth of wires and poles. Some are grid connected so you can switch between the power sources. The rest are permanent electric islands, always producing power independently.

Microgrids can travel, electrify homes, power facilities, and serve entire communities. Key to picking the right microgrid for you, is deciding where you’ll use the electricity and how much you need.

How widely are microgrids used?

Across the globe, microgrids power innovative people, businesses, utilities, and communities because they offer excellent reliability, cost savings, sustainability, and independence.

How many are there? How much energy do they produce?

A 2020 study by Guidehouse Insights found 1,639 microgrids in the United States, providing over 11,000 MW of power capacity – the same amount of energy as 5 million gallons of gas. Fossil fuels power 80% of those microgrids. However, the US Department of Energy is working to have 50% of microgrids renewable before 2030. 

Microgrids are becoming increasingly popular around the globe. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), about 1 million microgrids were operating worldwide at the end of 2016. By 2040, this number could reach 10 million.

When considering the scale of microgrid deployment, it’s worth noting that many reports only count the largest microgrids. Personal microgrids, like the portable ones and those powering small businesses and homes, now make up the majority of microgrids but are often ignored or categorized separately as mini-grids or nano-grids. Considering that, it’s possible to imagine everyone with microgrids within a few years.

Where can you find a microgrid today?

Microgrids are all around us. They go camping, propel yachts, electrify islands, show up after natural disasters, power critical facilities, and energize homes.

Almost every country on Earth uses microgrids.

The grid in Texas is highly unreliable, so residents have added solar microgrids to their homes to get backup power and lower energy bills. In 2020 over Valentines Day, a winter storm named Uri knocked out the power in the state for over a week. Thanks to Robert Soldat’s microgrid, his house kept the heat and lights on, allowing nearby friends to shelter there.

California families seek microgrid power. Over 25% of home solar systems are sold with batteries. Large institutions in the state, like Santa Rita jail, also have adopted microgrids in mass over the past decade.

Box Power has sent solar microgrids to many remote communities in Alaska. These solar microgrids provide year-round power and liberate towns from depending on shipping or flying-in fuel.

Above the arctic circle in Canada, the RAGLAN copper and nickel mine is only accessible a couple of months a year and by sea. The mine generates power every day of the year with a hybrid microgrid that uses a diesel generator and windmills.

Renewable microgrids are quickly replacing expensive, polluting, and supply chain-dependent diesel generators on islands in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Tonga, and Greece. 

Iluméxico has spent the last decade expanding electricity access in indigenous and hard-to-reach communities throughout Mexico. They sell small portable and home microgrids that power lights, radios, TVs, small appliances, and charge cell phones. 

Gaming centers have recently opened in two rural off-grid towns in Uganda thanks to solar microgrids becoming available to local entrepreneurs.

And this is only a sliver of the places using microgrid power…

The cutting edge of microgrid technologies

The microgrid space has evolved rapidly, and there’s no sign that it will slow down soon. 

Over the past decade, many advancements have come from clean energy technologies steadily getting more powerful and less expensive. That’s why most of the new microgrids use hybrid energy sources or are fully renewable.

Utility companies paying microgrid owners to use their electricity is another recent development, shortening microgrids’ payback period. Microgrids already usually pay for themselves with the savings on energy bill savings.

The newest entry to the microgrid space is electric vehicles (EV). With the introduction of bi-direction chargers, the cars’ batteries are now able to network with homes and utilities. They’re quickly becoming essential parts of the microgrid toolkit. There’s even a new networked microgrid in the UK whose only members are EVs.

How we make microgrids more accessible 

• Lower their prices
• Make them more powerful
• Make them more portable
• Power more of them with clean energy
• Increase the number of providers
• Grow providers’ coverage territories
• More opportunities to sell their power

Stay ahead of the pack

Knowledge is power. Follow these sources to get the latest information on microgrids:

Microgrid Knowledge is an authority on fossil, hybrid, and renewable microgrids powering businesses and extensive facilities.

Greentech Media is one of the most trusted sources of clean energy news. Their microgrid newsfeed is a great place to track news and current events.

And, of course, join the Electric Islands mailing list for remarkable microgrid content sent directly to you.

A renewable microgrid is a tool of empowerment. It turns the wind, sun, earth, and water’s energy into clean electricity and uses batteries to store backup power. A renewable microgrid can power your electronics, vehicles, homes, businesses, and facilities.

Some renewable microgrids can fit into a backpack; others are large enough to serve whole communities. Regardless of their size, as soon as they’re turned on, all renewable microgrids create an electric island.

Renewable microgrid use has spread rapidly in the past few years.

Necessity is so often the mother of innovation.

Unpredictable energy prices, unelectrified communities, blackouts, and the climate crisis are driving us to decentralize energy production and abandon fossil fuels. We’re evolving how life is powered.

Renewable microgrids break our dependence on getting energy from an unreliable, often inaccessible, fossil-fuel-powered electric grid.

Why we’re choosing renewable microgrids

Renewable microgrids independently produce clean electricity.

Yet most grid-connected people continue receiving some energy from their utility company even after getting one. Having the option to get power from the grid or a microgrid offers lower energy costs, more reliable backup power, and cleaner energy.

On the end of the spectrum are off-grid users. Getting power from a renewable microgrid often has an even more significant impact on their lives.

1 in 7 of us can’t access electricity from the grid. Renewable microgrids often are the only option for power off-grid homes and facilities, as well as professions and hobbies. Renewable microgrids enable us to leapfrog centralized grids and start producing electricity for ourselves.

How a microgrid works

Microgrids’ power management system marries energy storage with an electricity generator. That system allows the user to monitor and control the microgrid’s energy input, electricity output, and available backup power.

3 core components of a microgrid:

1. Electricity generator
2. Energy storage
3. Power management system

Renewable vs. Fossil microgrids

Since Thomas Edison created the first microgrid in New York City in 1882, microgrids have used diesel and gas-burning engines to generate electricity. Many of these old-school fossil fuel microgrids operate today.

But we can generate electricity more efficiently, sustainably, and cost-effectively this century with clean energy technologies. Renewable microgrids’ generators are clean energy technologies, like solar panels, windmills, hydro turbines, and heat pumps. These technologies collect energy from locally abundant natural sources.

A microgrid’s energy storage also depends on whether it’s renewable or fossil. Fossil microgrids rely on fuel, so you must maintain a stockpile and often have a pipeline to ensure uninterrupted power. Renewable microgrids store power in batteries frequently charged by local clean energy sources, enabling renewable microgrids to provide more reliable power.

Batteries also unlock money-making opportunities by enabling the sale of stored energy and the rental of excess storage space.

3 core components of a renewable microgrid

1. Clean electricity generator
2. Battery
3. Power management system

Clean electricity generators

A renewable microgrid collects naturally abundant energy and turns it into electricity with these clean energy technologies:

• Solar panels
• Windmills
• Hydro turbines
• Heat pumps
• Fuel Cells

More than one of these technologies is often used to enhance resiliency and energy supply.

Renewable microgrid batteries

When a renewable microgrid collects more energy than needs to be used, the extra is stored in a battery.

Batteries work perfectly with renewable microgrids because they’re powerful, rechargeable, transportable, and integrate with clean energy technologies.

Renewable microgrids use many types of batteries:

• Lead-acid
• Lithium-ion
• Gravity
• Hydro
• Thermal

The batteries use chemical reactions, gravitational pull, and even temperature differentials to store energy.

Most commonly though, renewable microgrid batteries are lead-acid, like the ones in your flashlight or gas-powered car, or lithium-ion, like the ones in your cell phone or electric vehicle.

Renewable microgrid management system

A microgrid is a “micro” “grid” because it generates, stores, and manages electricity like a grid, but it does it locally, at a smaller scale and without depending on a utility company’s network of powerlines and stations.

A renewable microgrid creates an electric island around it. Its power management system gives you control of the island’s energy storage and use. Complex renewable microgrids use software to manage their operations.

Some software platforms are designed to interconnect with the grid and can island when needed. Others provide the ability to operate entirely separately. Renewable microgrids with a grid connection are often more powerful. The disconnected ones offer greater independence.

When choosing or building a renewable microgrid it’s essential to ensure that its management software and user platform are compatible with the hardware – many are designed for specific batteries and generators.

Who uses renewable microgrids?

People all over the globe use renewable microgrids.

They’re Houston homeowners like Richard Boneno, whose solar microgrid kept his home warm and illuminated when winter storm Uri knocked out the state of Texas’s grid for over a week in 2021.

They’re Ugandan entrepreneurs like Ben Male who’s paying for his childrens’ education by building gaming centers powered by renewable microgrids in off-grid communities.

They’re Welsh families like the one who bought the Bron Yr Aur where Led Zepplin wrote Stairway to Heaven. The family powers the cottage with a wind, solar and hydro microgrid, saving $16,000/year on energy bills.

They’re residents of Barranquitas, Puerto Rican who suffered in the through a months long power outage in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and built 42 solar panels renewable microgrid at the local school, Segunda Unidad Federico Degetau. Giving the community energy independence and getting their kids back in the classroom before the Puerto Rican government was able to repair the grid.

Renewable microgrids power today

Now that renewable microgrids are cost-effective and accessible, powering life will never be the same.

We’ve begun unlocking the transformative power of renewable microgrids.

We’re evolving from the 20th century’s reliance on massive centralized fossil-fueled energy networks to a 21st century electrified by clean independent local energy.

All over the globe, we seen that…

The costs of energy’s status quo are too high.

Our centralized energy infrastructure is outdated and unreliable.

A billion of us live in unelectrified homes because we can’t access the grid.

Fossil pollution pollutes our communities and kills people daily.

So we’re creating lives powered with electricity that’s clean, affordable and locally generated. We’re creating energy independent lives powered by renewable microgrids.

How to own an electric island

If you’re ready to get your own electric island and becoming energy independent. Do it. Join us. Here’s how:

1. Research which renewable microgrids are the right fit for you through more Electric Islands blog posts and these resources:
   • Greentech Media is one of the most trusted sources of clean energy current events. Their microgrid newsfeed is a great place to learn about renewable microgrid products, services, and trends.
   • Microgrid Knowledge is an authority on old-school and renewable microgrids for homes, businesses, and facilities.
2. Power your life with a renewable microgrid with the products from these companies:
   • Energy Sage allows you to get quotes from local microgrid installers in North America.
   • LuminAID and Goal Zero create powerful portable solar microgrids that I use on long outdoor adventures.
3. Get remarkable renewable microgrid content sent to you by joining the Electric Islands mailing list.