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By Michael D. Mehta

In February, extreme weather events highlighted the fragility of the Texas electrical grid.  without power, and . President  a state of emergency and ordered that federal assistance be made available.

As , . The grid failed in a spectacular fashion and showcased how de-regulation can sometimes backfire.

Such scenarios are likely to grow in frequency and intensity as .

Renewables not responsible

 that renewable energy was responsible for the widespread power outage. Fanning the flames of a raging culture war, they pointed at  and solar projects instead of the .

Natural gas contributes to . In the winter months in Texas, .

One way to improve the reliability and resilience of critical infrastructure is to increase the number of high voltage power lines and their maximum reliable capacity between jurisdictions. For example, there are currently  between the United States and Canada. According to the :

Every Canadian province along the U.S. border is electrically interconnected with a neighbouring U.S. state or states, with many provinces boasting multiple international connections. The result of the integrated Canada-U.S. electric grid is a flexible, reliable and secure grid on both sides of the border.

By contrast,  with other states. , Texas chose to  and to remain “islanded.” Clearly, this decision came with a cost, and it now makes sense to rethink it.

Grids: Expensive and high maintenance

Maintaining grid infrastructure is expensive. In a 2015 , the U.S. Department of Energy  claiming that it could cost utility companies up to US$2 trillion by 2030 just to maintain current levels of service reliability.

Failing to adequately maintain grid infrastructure can be devastating to companies too. California-based utility giant  in January 2019 when lawsuits emerged against the company .

Ice storms can also wreak havoc on critical infrastructure. In January 1998, electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure collapsed in . Systems  failed simultaneously and knocked out electricity, telecommunications and transportation networks.

Traditional grids suffer from line losses between generating stations and end users. Line loss is the amount of electricity lost during transmission and distribution across an electric grid.

Longer distances between power plants and end users lead to larger line losses, . Although this number may seem trivial,  exceeds the energy in gasoline used by vehicles.

On a global basis, electrical grids are also exposed to  and power plants. Utility companies must be .

Microgrids: Next generation

An alternative to expanding existing grid infrastructure is to shift towards smart microgrids at the community level. A microgrid is a . It can be disconnected from a large (macro) grid network easily, if required.

Such systems can increase  and drive down carbon emissions when renewable energy is used. When combined with  that reconcile inflows and outflows of electricity, microgrids provide . When a microgrid goes down, it only affects the local region and not an entire state or province.

Because of their scalability and flexibility, microgrids may be less expensive to build when compared with energy mega projects and their associated transmission and distribution infrastructure. But for this shift to succeed,  need to be developed to optimize a two-way flow of electricity.

Microgrids have the added benefit of being able to use a large percentage of existing wiring within communities to contain costs. Additionally, they may fit better with the wants and needs of communities, generate local employment opportunities, lower consumption of electricity and take advantage of regional energy sources.

That said,  for them is still evolving, and  is proving to be a challenge.

Monetizing renewable energy trading

Market mechanisms including peer-to-peer energy trading based on  like Bitcoin can be used within microgrids to track transactions and to increase market penetration. This has been  where owners of household solar arrays were able to buy and sell energy at an agreed upon price using real-time data.

When combined with a strategy to increase the adoption of electric vehicles, microgrids can take advantage of  by using energy stored in batteries of vehicles to reduce .

De-gridding and setting up a microgrid is challenging, as I learned in 2013 when I pushed to  from the provincial grid run by . By co-founding a solar non-proft called  I was able to move the community in that direction somewhat. But  granting the utility company exclusive rights in the region killed anything more ambitious.

Although microgrids have a lot of potential, they still face some challenges before they achieve wide-scale support.

Energy storage remains expensive. The  has dropped to about US$175 per kilowatt hour (kWh) of storage in 2019 from US$1,200 per kWh in 2010. But many industry experts say the cost must fall below US$100 per kWh to be competitive.

That said, other storage options exist, including , , and .

There are also several , given the absence of a long track record. So far, investors have been reluctant to support microgrids, but this may be shifting.  is now partnering with investors to focus on microgrids to offer a hedge to companies who want longer term security with respect to the price they pay for electricity.

Legislation challenges also represent a barrier, and new regulatory frameworks and standardization are essential. Work to improve electrical codes for interconnecting with other grids will ensure safe operation of microgrids. Additionally, governments need to recognize that this approach can  and regions most likely to be impacted by climate change. Microgrids represent a form of climate change adaptation.

In short, climate change represents a significant threat to electrical utilities and the communities they serve. It also offers the greatest opportunity for innovation, community development and risk minimization.

Smart microgrids are a leap forward in how we generate, transmit and consume electricity. We have the potential to make grid failures like what happened in Texas a thing of the past.