Interested in microgrids? Read what the former Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David Hayes, currently a visiting lecturer at Stanford Law School, had to say in a July 18 New York Times opinion piece about how microgrids can help power communities in the most remote regions of the world:
“In collaboration with government labs, the state of Alaska, private companies and investors, the United States is developing modular wind and solar energy systems that will work in isolated communities in Alaska, on island nations, in the African bush and elsewhere.
“These systems are remarkably compact. Consider one that would provide enough renewable power for electricity, heating and cooling for a village of 100 to 200 people. It would include a refrigerator-size control center and a similarly sized container for storage batteries. The power would come either from one to five wind turbines, each about 100 feet tall with 20-foot-long blades, or from a solar panel array covering 700 square feet or more. Modern diesel generators would kick in when the wind wasn’t blowing or the sun wasn’t shining.”