The Affordable Microgrid: Securing Electric Reliability through Outsourcing

Power outages caused by natural disasters and extreme weather events are becoming more commonplace – and more severe. Microgrids, which use controllers to connect multiple power generation and storage sources, can provide electric reliability but they can also be too complex and costly for businesses to tackle on their own.

In this white paper from Enchanted Rock, the authors compare the cost of power outages with the value of electric reliability, and they show the benefits of an innovative approach to microgrids – reliability-as-a-service.  Also called “microgrid-as-a-service”, with this business model, a third party covers the microgrid’s installation and operating costs. In return, they provide the user with reliable electricity for a fixed rate for a fixed period of time.

The paper outlines how this approach makes microgrids affordable. Enchanted Rock explains why a natural gas powered microgrid offers superior reliability over solar plus storage microgrids and reduced emissions over other fossil fuel generators. The paper also presents several real-world examples of how reliability-as-a-service microgrids have performed during extreme weather events.