Microgrids may be going macro. That's what Navigant Research says, noting that as of the second quarter of 2016, it has identified 1,568 projects representing 1,500 megawatts of capacity. Most of the 148 projects that landed in 2016 are in North America (42 percent) but it also says that there are some in Latin America and the Asia Pacific.
“The remote microgrid segment’s growing dominance in the microgrid market shows the increasing visibility in the Middle East and African region as well as the Latin American and Asia Pacific regions where remote microgrids are common,” says Adam Wilson, research associate with Navigant Research. “Additionally, one-fourth of new capacity coming from utility distribution microgrids shows the markets gradual and continuing shift of microgrid developers looking more to utilities instead of traditional third-party vendors.”
The three most noteworthy additions to occur in the second quarter include a 200 MW proposed solar PV microgrid addition in Senegal, a 202 MW deployment in Sampolo on the island of Corsica, and a 211 MW portfolio added across the United States by Blue Pillar. In terms of vendors, according to the report, Siemens moved past ABB to lead in terms of total microgrid capacity, while Schneider Electric retained the lead in terms of total number of microgrid projects, its release says.
A microgrid is a localized grid, or enclosed grid, that services a building or an entire campus. They can work when the central grid goes down or as an "island" that is completely independent of the grid.
