MicroGrids 101: The NEED FOR RELIABLE INDEPENDENT POWER

A microgrid is a small-scale power grid that can operate independently or collaboratively with other small power grids, and still have connection to the public grid. The practice of using microgrids is known as distributed, dispersed, decentralized, district or embedded energy production. 

This can provide island power for commercial, industrial, residential, or a combination of both., that can protect from grid down, provide clean redundant power. 

Microgrids give communities the necessary and additional independent power that is needed to have secure power and is necessary to expand industries, create job growth, expand technology sector jobs, re-shore manufacturing, and utilize clean energy in multiple forms.  

Airports, AI, Battery Manufacturing, Chemical Plants Crypto Mining, Cement Plants, Communication Towers, Data Centers, Food Processing, Hospitals, Paper Mills, Prisons & Jails, Schools & Universities, Semiconductors, Steel Mills & MORE

*** BY PROVIDING MICRO GRID "ISLAND" POWER FOR EXISTING & NEW DEVELOPMENT, THIS HELPS THE PUBLIC UTITLITY GRID FROM USING EXCESS POWER NEEDED TO POWER CITIES & COMMUNITIES WHILE STILL HELPING THE ENVIROMENT WITH CLEAN ENERGY.                                                                                                                                                                                   

• Hundreds of sites available now in PA that can be developed and bring an average of 1000-5000 jobs to various areas in the Commonwealth. 
• Data Center demand is at an all-time high due increase in AI, gaming, self-driving vehicles, streaming & more. 
• With the 2024 Bitcoin Halving crypto mining power needs will increase. 
• Re-shoring of chemical, metals, semiconductor, and additional manufacturing will increase demand significantly. 

•  NERC's Winter Reliability Assessment found large portions of the electric grid at risk of energy shortfalls this winter. Elevated risk areas include PJM, ERCOT, SERC-E - (Source NERC's Winter Reliability Assessment concluded that large portions of the North American electric grid are at high or elevated risk of energy shortfalls this winter. | NERC November 8, 2023) 

• PJM Files Proposed Winter Storm Elliott Settlement -  PJM and 80 other settling parties today filed a settlement package to comprehensively resolve 15 separate Federal Energy Regulatory Commission complaints regarding extraordinary non-performance charges resulting from Winter Storm Elliott on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, 2022. The settling parties requested that FERC approve the settlement no later than Dec. 29, 2023. 

The opportunity has never been better to re-shore jobs in America.  An estimated 500,000+ jobs can be created from re-shoring manufacturing to new developed sites with onsite power and the tech industry expansion by 2030.        

Pennsylvania:  4,581

Ohio:                  29,561  

West Virginia:   7,165 

New York:         43,491 

Maryland:         8,000 

*** 2022 STATS

Nearly 350,000 jobs were created due to reshoring in 2022, a 25% increase from 2021, and that number is expected to continue to grow. By 2025 reshoring could reduce shipments from Asia to the US by 20% and by 40% by 2030. 

Pittsburgh International Airport:  

• First unveiled in July 2021, the microgrid is the first in the world to completely power a major airport through on-site natural gas and nearly 10,000 solar panels. The microgrid allows PIT to be self-sufficient for power generation and resistant to outages on the traditional grid.
• PIT’s microgrid can produce up to 23 megawatts between its five natural gas-fired generators and solar panels. The solar array is built atop a closed landfill, repurposing land that is otherwise unsuitable for development initiatives and underscoring the airport’s sustainability goals.
• PIT’s microgrid has saved approximately $1 million annually in utility costs while reducing carbon emissions by more than 6 million pounds per year.

Philadelphia Navy Yard: 

•  Philadelphia’s public private economic development corporation, partnered with Ameresco for a new 8 megawatt (8 MW) natural gas-fired peaking plant that anchors one of the largest private microgrids in the United States, located at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.  
• “This on-site generation facility will help support the energy demand for the 1,200-acre campus as businesses continue to locate here and grow, while remaining in line with the Navy Yard’s commitment to smart energy initiatives and sustainability. Ameresco is not only designing and developing a project that addresses the Navy Yard’s energy growth needs, reliability requirements, and cost targets, but one that can also provide back-up and resiliency support as required. ”
• – Prema Katari Gupta
  Senior Vice President, Navy Yard Planning, Development & Operations, PIDC