Full Title: Microgrids: What Every City Should Know
Author(s): Doug Vine & Amy Morsch
Publisher(s): Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Publication Date: June 1, 2017
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Cities are at the forefront of the national conversation about climate change. Increasingly, elected officials and city residents are finding ways to deploy more clean energy and reduce their carbon footprints. They are also looking for ways to reduce the risks that climate change poses to life and property, both today and into the future. Microgrids can help cities and businesses increase resilience, reduce emissions, and achieve other policy goals such as brownfield redevelopment or smart city implementation. Private and public entities, including utilities, are taking a fresh look at the role microgrids and other distributed energy resources can play in meeting the energy needs of communities. However, there are challenges, as microgrids are not traditional or typical infrastructure investments for a utility, and the existing regulatory system is not structured to facilitate microgrid development by non-utilities. This fact sheet seeks to introduce microgrids as a potential solution to local challenges, describe current financial and legal barriers, and outline the role that local governments can play. A deeper exploration of several of these issues is available in the C2ES report “Microgrid Momentum: Building Efficient, Resilient Power.”