Elisa Wood, Microgrid Knowledge
Summary
A funny thing happened on the way to creating a more resilient grid in the United States. Rather than promoting technologies that actually do this – like microgrids – the Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing old-style generators that are part of the problem.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry in September asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider a rule that subsidizes baseload generation – coal and nuclear power plants — in the name of making the grid more resilient.
In era of intelligent, fast-reacting distributed energy, elevating slower, dumber resources, largely built before the Internet age, is, well, we won’t tell you what we think. Instead, let us highlight some comments others recently filed before FERC. Not surprisingly, there was a flood of them.
(Also take note: No one is rushing to Puerto Rico to build coal or nuclear plants to get the power restored, following massive grid destruction from Hurricane Maria. However, several companies are installing microgrids. Tesla already has one up and running at a children’s hospital.)
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