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Off Grid solar is the ideal form of self-reliance. With solar and energy storage you don’t need to pay bills to a utility or buy an endless supply of fuel for your generator, you can harvest energy from the sky. By avoiding dirty fossil fuels, you’re also not contributing to climate change. We’ve been waiting for a silver bullet and it’s here.
The definition of a microgrid changes depending on the project constraints in which it is used. The term gets thrown around with different context and a new definition almost every time I hear it. I’ve seen the differing points of view and it is about time for a consensus. We all need to be on the same page using the same terminology.
It’s a hazy afternoon and I’m sitting in an open-air jeep driving fast down a bumpy road full of boulders and muddy puddles. Our driver is honking, trying to pass a line of trucks so overloaded with people and goods that I think they might burst. Leaving later than expected, we’re rushing to get to the next site before dark. The rangers warned us that the threat of being kidnapped heightens after nightfall. So when we suddenly slow to a stop with cars and trucks blocking both directions, I become anxious. In the front of our caravan, several rangers with loaded machine guns hop out of the jeep to investigate the scene ahead.
The utility grid communication protocol currently functions the way the US Post Office delivers mail. Like the central post office, a few central power plants distributing electricity door to door. If I were to mail a letter to my neighbor using the US mail system, the letter would travel a long distance just to get to my neighbor’s house. First it would go in my mailbox waiting to get picked up, then it would get delivered to the central post office, and eventually get delivered back to my street in my neighbor’s mailbox. This is similar to how our current utility grid communicates, even though the electrons flow to the shortest path.
