Stamford CT is home to major financial institutions as well as other large corporations. They’ve also been getting too many blackouts during the summer as the inadequate power grid can’t handle the load. Even the mayor admits “we’re just kind of a Third World country here. We have to expect interruptions in our power.” But too much of this and businesses will start leaving. Hey, in a globalized Internet world, those companies can be anywhere.
So, the plan is to create micro grids, an idea already in practice in Europe, the UK, and Walt Disney World. Businesses and neighbors team together to produce their own power, sharing it as needed.
For example, a hotel and office building might team up, with the hotel needing electricity more at night and the office building needing it more during the day.
They can use fuel cells, solar, geothermal, whatever is available to create power, and try to stay off the grid as much as possible. This not only helps the users in the micro grid, it helps the community at large because it takes load off the main grid.
Micro grids and power generation is, I think, the coming trend. Produce power in small amounts locally and use it locally, that’s the way to go.
Connecticut Energy Blog has full details.