surprise! This is not an article about the wildfires, storms and other grid disasters that will drive the development of the microgrid market in 2021. They did it. But you already know it. So let's talk about the less obvious but interesting microgrid trends and indicators revealed this year.

Yokogawa may not be the company you immediately associate with the microgrid, which is one of the reasons why its acquisition of California-based PXiSE Energy Solutions is thought-provoking.

Yokogawa is an international conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo. It is an engineering and software company that has carried out a lot of work in the fields of large-scale energy-oil, natural gas and power plants-as well as pharmaceuticals, materials, chemicals and food. The company announced on December 1 the acquisition of PXiSE from Sempra Energy and Mitsu. 

According to investors, through this acquisition, Yokogawa now uses microgrid as one of its main initiatives.

In a conversation with Microgrid Knowledge, Patrick Lee, CEO of PXiSE, listed several business synergies between PXiSE and Yokogawa, explaining why this acquisition makes sense. But the most interesting is Li's description of the "hidden information" about the microgrid revealed by the transaction.

Lee said that all this comes down to the ultimate reason for the creation of the PXiSE microgrid platform, that is, to achieve zero-carbon power, the challenge of renewable energy integration must be solved. In other words, when the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shining, how do you quickly move to other resources? Microgrids can fill this role, especially when they use sophisticated forecasting and high-speed control platforms and software, which was developed by PXiSE.

"Ultimately, we will be able to adopt renewable energy faster to achieve zero carbon or 100% renewable energy," Lee said.

Yokogawa has formulated a plan to accelerate the transition to clean energy from 2021 to 2030 and is also aware of the need to solve the intermittent problem of renewable energy. 

"This consistency is indeed one of the key reasons why they are interested in PXiSE-not just technology and market synergy," Lee said. 

Achieving zero carbon is not a value proposition usually associated with microgrids in the world. Resilience and reliability are. However, as Lee pointed out, due to power outages, most microgrids only spend a fraction of the time to keep the lights on. Microgrids are usually connected to the grid and can provide services for it, such as balancing renewable energy.

In Lee's view, the microgrid is an important part of a 100% renewable power grid.

"I can almost assure you that you can't achieve zero carbon without a microgrid," Lee said. "It's really not an option."

Are you interested in delving into the topic of microgrid and carbon emission reduction? This is the theme of "Microgrid 2022: Microgrid as a Climate Hero". Tickets are now available.

The connection of a microgrid to the grid is a good example-a symbiotic relationship can be established between the microgrid and the grid. Everyone can get financial and operational strength, and the world will get cleaner energy. But sometimes it is not possible to connect to the grid, because the microgrid is designed to provide services to remote areas or islands where there is no grid. 

However, other times, grid connection is possible, but not worth the trouble, at least initially. In California Microgrid, we learned that some microgrid owners choose to operate independently of the grid because it takes too much time to obtain interconnection approval from the utility company. In places like California, where wildfires are prone, companies want to build their microgrids now rather than later.

To learn more about this phenomenon, we invite you to watch two panel discussions from California Microgrid.

Microgrid California panel discusses microgrid and agriculture

Agriculture/Food Industry Microgrid 

California produces more than one-third of the vegetables and two-thirds of fruits and nuts in the United States. Therefore, any hindrance to its ability to grow, harvest, produce and distribute food will have an impact far beyond its borders-making reliable energy essential to agriculture. The group provided examples of successful microgrids used in the food industry and explored how to make it easier for agriculture to adopt them more widely.

Hosted by AJ Perkins, President of Instant ON, the team members are:

Participate in the discussion that day, the panel members and the audience discussed the main points and issues from the California microgrid.

Chaired by Ken Horne, Director of Portfolio Operations at Spring Lane Capital, the team includes:

Sometimes, microgrid owners want to stay off-grid for economic reasons. This is the case with the microgrid in a hotel in New York City. This story does not start in 2021, but if you are exploring the idea of ​​running a microgrid independently, even if there is a powerful grid, it is still worth revisiting.

Insiders of microgrids have always pointed out that electrification is an emerging driving force for the development of microgrids. In fact, this year we have seen their claims become more and more reality.

It is obvious that the combination of electrification/microgrid is enabling a steady stream of innovators, who are proposing creative pairings for these two technologies. Their efforts are far more ambitious and creative than just including a few chargers in the microgrid.

An example is the recently announced product of the Australian company Tritium. The fast charger, called PKM150, includes a direct current (DC) microgrid, which the company claims is unique to its architecture. It uses 950 volts direct current instead of 400 volts alternating current to transmit power throughout the system. This design reduces the linear size of the wiring by half. Tritium said this can save tens of thousands of dollars for small charging sites and hundreds of thousands of dollars for large charging sites.

It is also interesting that the PKM150 system is built in a modular fashion, as described in an article by Lisa Cohn of Microgrid Knowledge. Customers can choose 50 kW, 100 kW or 150 kW power station to meet business needs. According to Tritium, the modular structure of these chargers makes their repair and construction faster and easier than non-modular systems. 

In White Plains, New York, a school district is using electric school buses as a mobile microgrid. The five-bus electric fleet provided by Lion Electric last year began to supply power to the local utility company Con Edison. This is the first time in the state that buses provide power to the public grid.

Buses charge and discharge at a station in North White Plains. When United Edison's electricity demand is low, they will plug into the charger, and when the bus does not pick up the children to and from school, they will flow back into the grid. 

Electric vehicle company Revel, clean energy developer NineDot Energy, and vehicle-to-grid company Fermata Energy have established a new partnership, hoping to take the idea of ​​mobile microgrids to a new level through a pilot program in Brooklyn, New York. Three Nissan Leaf electric vehicles will power United Edison. Revel co-founder Paul Suhey said that Revel's long-term goal is to use its electric carpool fleet-all Tesla electric vehicles-to support the power grid in New York City and elsewhere. 

Earlier this year, Proterra delivered the 25th ZX5 battery electric bus to LADOT to support the agency's transition to an all-electric fleet. Photo courtesy of Proterra

We are all beginning to see more and more companies and institutions choosing to use microgrids to power their electric fleets. This phenomenon may accelerate, especially in operations in congested urban areas or in remote areas with insufficient transmission. 

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in California plans to build a microgrid with charging infrastructure to upgrade and fuel its battery-powered electric bus fleet. As Lyn Corum reported for Microgrid Knowledge, the Northern California project is part of the VTA’s efforts to transform its fleet to 100% zero emissions by 2036-the state requires all public transportation agencies to transition to 100% zero emissions by 2040 Before the requirement goes into effect. 

VTA has established a partnership with Scale Microgrid Solutions, Proterra and Schneider Electric to build a 1.5 MW solar system on its 10-acre Cerone Yard, equipped with a 1 MW/4 MWh fixed battery energy storage system.  

At the same time, Montgomery County, Maryland plans to build a 5.6 MW microgrid at the Brookville Smart Energy Bus Station outside of Washington, DC, equipped with distributed energy generation, energy storage and more than 2 MW of charging capacity

Microgrid Knowledge writer Sharon Bennett reported that AlphaStruxure, a joint venture between Schneider Electric and The Carlyle Group, will use an energy-as-a-service model to design, build, and deliver the project, which does not require prepayments from the county. 

AlphaStruxure will implement a strategy to convert on-site natural gas power generation to carbon neutral energy after the start of operations, so that the microgrid can operate with 100% renewable energy, thereby achieving the county's goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2035. 

To learn more about microgrids and electric vehicles, check out the Electric Vehicle Channel of Microgrid Knowledge. 

Elisa Wood is the editor-in-chief of MicrogridKnowledge.com. For more than two decades, she has been writing articles on energy for top industry publications. Her work has also been included in CNN, New York Times, Reuters, Wall Street Journal Online, and The Washington Post.

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