Design Considerations

Please note this page is a work in progress, we will be adding to it as resources become available. While these resources are free for your use, we recommend and request proper attribution when using them.

Design Considerations for your microgrid

Once the participating buildings have been selected, your team can begin developing the design for your microgrid.

Technologies: There are so many technologies that be used in a microgrid. You can pick and choose which fit best with your project. Remember to consult with the community to choose those options that make more sense for them.

• Energy Efficiency:
• Emissions reduction:
• Batteries:
• Solar Panels:
• Generators:
• Electric Vehicles:
• Clean fuels:

Reliable Communications: Rain or shine, reliable communications are vital for everyone. Community members need to be able to access phone calls and messaging with their loved ones, as well as with emergency service organizations such as 911.

Regulatory Barriers: Our work with microgrids has been limited to Chelsea, Boston, and Cambridge at the local level, and Massachusetts at the state level. Laws and regulations vary from state to state and city to city. For example, in Massachusetts, building owners are not allowed to create virtual meters behind the utility's meter in order to control individual tenants' electric consumption. This is not the case in New York State, where landlords are allowed to use technologies to meter virtually their tenants.

Another obstacle we have faced in Massachusetts is that buildings with different owners are not allowed to connect in order to share energy through cables that cross a Utility's right of way. This has proven a challenge for our microgrid projects; however, this pushed us to find different alternatives, and our team eventually came up with the concept of Virtual Microgrid (Thanks Dave Dayton!).

Interconnection Considerations: Our microgrids are not meant to work on "island mode" all of the time. We have designed them to be connected to the larger grid with the ability to island.

How did we sell the idea of our microgrid to the utilities? In our design, buildings are still geting the majority of their power from the utility's grid, so the design doesn't threaten the utility. On top of this, each utility will have a different opinion about its users being able to generate their own energy. In our case, the Utility approved our design because interventions all happen "behind the meter", there's no wire sharing, or crossing of their rights of way. So overall, our projects don't impact negatively the utility. At the end of the day, it's important to mantain a good relationship with the utility regardless. Their support can make or break a microgrid project.

In order to connect a project to the Utility's network, an Interconnection Service Agreement (ISA) must be crafted. This process involves a lot of back and forth between the contractors and the Utility before actually getting it approved. Within this topic, here are some considerations to keep in mind, or information you'll need to find.

• Types of Networks: As with everything in life, a utility's network can come in different configurations, such as area or radial networks. This will impact a project's ability to connect to the main network
  • Area network:
    • Primary network
    • Secondary network
  • Radial network:
• Timing considerations: