New York officials, power sector business leaders and other stakeholders are holding a Statewide Winter Energy Tour to highlight the potential of community-based microgrids, which are seen as one solution to widespread power outages in the face of extreme weather events and other emergencies.
In addition to providing power to local residences, microgrids could help ensure that hospitals, first responders and other ‘critical operators’ can continue to provide essential services. Under less trying circumstances, microgrids and distributed generation (DG) sources, such as solar, can also add electricity to the main grid during times when overall demand is highest.
New York is seen as a leader in the community microgrid effort in part due to the experience of Hurricane Sandy.
The State University of New York at Buffalo is hosting the last stop on the Statewide Winter Energy Tour on Feb. 12.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is leading the tour, in part, to build awareness for the the NY Prize, a $40 million competition that challenges New York businesses, entrepreneurs and electric utilities to design and implement DG power systems and microgrids.
For more information about the NY Prize, click here.
