Community microgrids are a way for neighbourhoods, villages, towns and cities to meet their energy needs locally. Increasingly, Community microgrids are being eyed as an option even in areas where a larger grid already exists, mainly as a way to increase local energy independence and resilience. This article covers community microgrid basics, from the reasons for their growing popularity to their components and applications – as well as an overview of how to join one. Background: Why community microgrids are a hot topic In order to understand why microgrids are gaining popularity, it’s helpful to understand how larger electricity grids (‘macrogrids’) operate – and the forces that are currently at play in changing them. The points below detail the changes currently afoot in electrical systems around the world. The rise of distributed generators in the ‘macro’ grid A conventional electricity network (AKA ‘the grid’) is essentially comprised of three things: energy consumers (homes, businesses, etc); the ‘poles and wires’ (the electricity delivery infrastructure); and large-scale power plants (e.g. coal, gas, wind, nuclear and hydro). It is the size of the power plants and the distances that electricity travels (often hundreds or thousands of kilometres) upon which the ‘modern’ grid concept – now over […]

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