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International Microgrid Assessment: Governance, INcentives, and Experience (IMAGINE)

Panel: 1. Foundations of future energy policy

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
John Romankiewicz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Nan Zhou, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Chris Marnay, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Min Qu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Abstract

Microgrids can provide an avenue for increasing the amount of distributed generation and delivery of electricity, where control is more dispersed and quality of service is locally tailored to end-use requirements, with applications from military bases to campuses to commercial office buildings. Many studies have been done to date on microgrid technology and operations, but few studies exist on the policy barriers present for microgrid demonstration and deployment. In performing this International Microgrid Assessment, we provide an avenue to understand the Governance of a grid environment where microgrids can succeed with the INcentives needed to capture the benefits that microgrids provide, by cataloging the international Experience to date (IMAGINE). The assessment reviews both the key drivers for microgrid development and outlines the main barriers that microgrid demonstrations have faced to date including interconnection issues, financial penalties, and operation constraints. The paper provides an overview of policy conditions and microgrid demonstrations in 11 countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It describes the experiences of two well-known microgrid demonstration projects, the Santa Rita “green jail” in Dublin, CA and the Sendai microgrid in Japan, with details on goals, funding, technologies used, operating history, and lessons learned. Specific technology and policy pathways for microgrid development to get from the “land of penalties” to the “land of payments” are proposed. Finally, the assessment leads to policy recommendations for starting a microgrid demonstration program, with a specific focus on China which is planning to launch a demonstration program shortly for 30 microgrids. If China can also manage to create incentive policies for microgrids, it will go beyond the establishment of a successful demonstration program and become an international leader in microgrid deployment.

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