🔌 Climate Tech Brief #012 — Microgrids

Happy Tuesday!

Communities and businesses typically rely on a single, centralized energy source known as “the grid”. But due to an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters, these communities and businesses are experiencing more widespread outages and limited access to electricity. This is especially true in rural areas or less developed countries.

Microgrids can offer a more resilient, stable, and reliable source of energy and are becoming an increasingly important solution for addressing climate change and the energy security.

While they provide less than a percent of U.S. electricity, but their capacity is expected to double in the next few years - and are relied upon when people need it most.

📣 Why it matters

The grid is highly vulnerable to severe weather events.

Climate change is causing natural disasters to increase in frequency and severity. And not ever country, state, or nation has a reliable energy infrastructure.

😬 Problem

Energy grids are often centralized and rely on large power plants that are vulnerable to outages and natural disasters.

This can cause businesses to shut down, hospitals to lose power, and essential services to fail.

🎯 Solution

Microgrids are local and flexible energy systems that can operate independently or in connection with the larger grid. By integrating different energy sources and energy storage systems, microgrids can provide localized energy reliability, security, and resilience.

Microgrids can also increase energy efficiency, reduce costs, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions of buildings by integrating renewables like solar.

💪🏼 Innovators

• Kore Power manufactures energy storage, electric vehicles, microgrids, utilities, and e-mobility systems for the clean energy industries.

• Microgrid Labs is a consulting and software company.

• Veckta is a cloud-based market platform that delivers full turnkey microgrid design and implementation solutions.

• ESS is a provider of long-duration energy storage solutions ideally suited for C&I, utility, microgrid, and off-grid applications.

• Bloom Energy offers on-site power generation systems that can use a wide variety of inputs to generate electricity.

• Solarize provides SaaS for energy production, distribution, and billing for commercial microgrids.

• XENDEE develops advanced software for financial & technical optimization and operation of resilient Microgrids and renewable energy systems.

• EnergyRM is a clean energy fintech company that solves the split incentive in commercial buildings.

• BoxPower designs and manufactures solar energy systems in a 20-foot shipping container.

• Sun King sells, installs and finances solar home systems for the 1.8 billion off-grid and under-electrified consumers.

• Grape Solar is a renewable company that serves businesses and individuals with grid-tied, grid-interactive, and off-grid solar systems.

• GreenStruxure is industrializing the development and construction of microgrids.

• Husk Power Systems is the leading net-zero energy company serving rural Africa and Asia and operator of the largest fleet of community solar microgrids

⚡️ Opportunities

1. Energy management solutions are needed for monitoring and controlling energy usage, predicting energy demand, and optimizing energy storage for microgrids.

   1. Swell Energy is a home energy company that provides smart grid and energy management solutions for homeowners and businesses.

   2. AMP operates as an energy management solutions provider for e-mobility.

   3. Driivz empowers major service providers with a market-leading, end-to-end EV charging and smart energy management software platform.

   4. Energi provides Energy as a Service to commercial and residential buildings throughout the world.

2. Climate adaptation technology that can determine risk of natural disasters for a given area. This exists for businesses, but not for homeowners.

   1. Floodbase is a climate adaptation technology company that provides precise, near real-time flooding and flood risk data and analysis.

   2. Jupiter is the trusted leader in climate risk analytics, turning sophisticated climate science into actionable data.

   3. Entelligent is a climate risk analytics platform that measures and manages investment exposure to climate risk.

3. Solutions that support integration of renewable energy storage systems like solar.

   1. HPS designs and manufactures integrated solar energy storage and usage systems for single and two-family homes.

   2. Enfinity develops, finances, and sells integrated solar installations to companies and individuals.

   3. Sunverge Energy provides integrated solar solutions for distributed generation and storage.

4. Battery storage systems

   1. Primergy Solar is a developer, owner and operator focused on both distributed and utility scale solar PV and battery storage projects.

   2. Sunamp is a company that provides industrial and residential heat battery storage systems.

   3. Noon Energy develops a flow battery technology that enables economical long-duration energy storage.

⚠️ Challenges

1. Installing and setting up microgrids can be capital intensive, just like many climate tech and energy projects. High upfront costs block adoption.

2. Regulations and laws vary at the federal, state, and local levels. This complexity creates barriers to entry for new service providers and early adopters.

3. Interoperability: Ensuring the seamless integration of microgrids with the traditional energy grid is a challenge, as different microgrids may use different technologies and standards.

4. Long-term energy storage is a necessity.

🚀 Takeaways

1. The energy grid is vulnerable to severe weather events.

2. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters, and not every country or state has a reliable energy infrastructure.

3. Microgrids provide localized energy reliability, security, and resilience that can also increase efficiency, reduce costs, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

🔗 Dive Deeper

• The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions on Microgrids

• Are microgrids the future of disaster recovery?

This is a deep dive on the most promising climate solutions like community solar ☀️, electric vehicles 🚎, and regenerative agriculture 🌾.

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