Innovative Business Models Required to Drive Microgrids for Resilience

The devastation caused by recent hurricanes in the Caribbean and southern United States has focused attention on the potential benefits of microgrids and local power generation. With widespread power outages and major damage to grid infrastructure, the opportunity to rebuild electrical systems with a more distributed and resilient architecture has never been clearer. Guidehouse Insights’ new report Energy Storage for Microgrids highlights some the developments taking place in this emerging market along with the challenges that must be overcome to capitalize on the full potential of these technologies. The report explores innovations in business models that will be key to the growth of microgrids and distributed energy over the coming years, particularly in markets with significant financial constraints.

Protecting and Improving

Microgrids equipped with distributed energy storage, solar PV, and other forms of distributed generation can greatly enhance the resilience of the electrical system by preventing damage to a single portion of the grid from causing massive outages. This capability would be especially beneficial for islands such as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which face frequent hurricanes capable of destroying transmission and distribution lines. In a centralized grid system, although power plants may still be operational after a storm, the energy they generate will be unable to reach customers. Microgrids with localized energy storage and generation are less susceptible to storm damage and can be brought back online more quickly, without damage in one area preventing service from being restored elsewhere. Furthermore, under normal conditions, microgrids provide numerous benefits to the grid by operating both independently and in a coordinated fashion to maximize the use of renewable energy without affecting grid stability.

Leveraging Financial Innovation to Drive Growth

Since microgrids are a relatively new technology platform, two major challenges that hold back new projects are the limited number of standardized solutions (despite some early plug-and-play offerings) and the limited financing options that reduce upfront investments and risks for customers. In the case of Puerto Rico and other islands with significant financial constraints, innovative business models will be critical for microgrids to spread.

Business model and financing innovations have been key drivers of growth in the solar PV industry over the past decade. Many of these same concepts are being applied to microgrid and distributed energy storage projects with the goal of negating the perceived risk of investing in new technologies. Some of the new models shifting risk and upfront investment away from customers include: power purchase agreements and leases with owner financing, software, energy as a service, and design, build, operate, and own models. New business models are being driven by the growing number of companies that leverage their backgrounds to provide microgrid solutions, including utility subsidiaries, energy service and technology providers, solar PV developers, and building energy management and controls providers.

Creating Opportunities

While the distributed energy industry races to help communities recover from recent disasters, it is critical that new technologies capable of reducing the effect of future storms be implemented. However, overcoming the lack of familiarity with these new systems and relatively high upfront costs will be a major challenge. The most successful companies in this industry will be those that can unlock the potential of new business and financing models to reduce the risk and upfront costs to customers. This ability to leverage private investment in infrastructure will be particularly important as countries with limited resources look to recover from massive damage while preventing similar issues in the future. In a webinar later this month, Guidehouse Insights will explore the role of microgrids for improving resilience in another high profile area: data centers.