(Credit: Pixabay)A utility partnership program will help electric utilities provide their costumers a resilient power service as reliability remains an important priority for energy consumers.
The program, offered by microgrid provider Enchanted Rock, will provide those in critical industries — such as healthcare facilities, grocery stores, water providers, and data centers that rely on power to stay functional and provide services — with cost effective, reliable and cleaner back-up power options. The program will help construct, operate and maintain the microgrids for users, and also offers natural gas microgrids that are up to 50% less expensive than diesel generators when coupled with grid support services.
Power resiliency is a huge priority for users as events that impact the grid become more common. The US Energy Information Administration reported that electricity customers experienced more than eight hours of power interruptions in 2020, the most since the agency started collecting the data in 2013.
Events like last year’s winter storm in Texas heightened the focus on grid resiliency as natural events continue to be a concern to businesses, industries and consumers.
Enchanted Rock says its microgrids helped protect Texas users during that storm and provided continuous power to 143 consumers that experienced outages and the microgrids protected for nearly 5,000 outage hours over eight days.
Microgrid spending in the commercial and industrial market is also growing partially as a response to these concerns.
It is expected to increase to $10 billion by 2030, according to a report from Guidehouse Insights. That is up from $2 billion in 2021. The energy potential from that use is expected to reach up to 7,000 megawatts by 2030 as well.
The utility program will include flexible commercial options to help businesses implement a system that fits their operations, third-party ownership options and regulatory support. The natural gas microgrids can also provide a 99% cleaner option to diesel backup generators, according to Enchanted Rock, as users attempt to lower their emissions.
