Annotated Bibliography

1.Meredith Fowlie, Catherine Wolfram and Derek Wolfson. "Are solar micro-grids the future in the

developing world?" energypost.eu , (October 23, 2018)

Many industry experts see micro-grids playing significant role in rural electrification in developing

countries. A team from Energy Institute at Haas, Berkeley investigating in rural India found different set of

challenges while installing micro-grids. The team found that very few communities were in favor of the

micro grid technology. Out of the 176 unelectrified villages they intend to deploy the micro-grids into, they

succeeded in 10 cases. These micro-grids are facing issues of high prices and power theft.

The promise of relatively cheap power to the villages in rural India from the local government has

made the proposal of expensive micro-grids (even after govt. subsidy) out of reach of these village people.

Also, issues of power thefts and their subsequent resolution pose a major challenge. The private companies

must cover their costs and thus can't compete with govt. run power utilities which subsidize the conventional

power to poor. Some of the problems can be addressed with better policy from the local govt. Some

problems have to wait for future research to make these unconventional sources of energy cheaper than the

traditional sources for the cities and the villages at the same time.

2.Thomas W. Overton. “New York University Cogeneration Plant, New York City” Power Magazine

(September 1, 2014).

One of the premier universities in the United States, the New York University (NYU), produces its

own power since the 1960s. Eyeing micro-grid capabilities NYU shifted from oil to natural gas in 2011.

This shift towards micro-grid based power generation and use has reduced the energy cost and reduced the

emissions by 68%. The greenhouse gas emissions have also decreased by 23%.
 Despite all the technical limitations there has been successful implementations of micro-grid in

small scale. Small scale success models with further research can be implemented on large scale. As in

NYU the micro-grid technology can be tested in hospitals, jails and islands. These installations not only

address the power shortage problem in the world but also reduces the emissions. Looking into future where

climate change and power crisis will be one of the major challenges, microgrid technology can be the way

out.

3.Adam Hirsch, Yael Parag, Josep Guerrero. “Microgrids: A review of technologies, key drivers,

and outstanding issues, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.”, 2018,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.040.

Despite their many advantages, microgrids face significant barriers to widespread

implementation. Microgrid faces challenges at federal, state and local levels in United States. Federal and

State governments have multiple long existing regulations. These regulations have not been updated with

time and needs to be revisited for integration of micro- grid with the main grid. At the utility level

reduction in demand through energy efficiency and use of renewable sources threatens the business

model of different local utilities.

Though micro-grid has several merits its implementation faces numerous challenges. As a

fundamental complication, microgrids face often-conflicting regulation at the federal, state and sometime

local levels. The federal government and the state government have to form policies taking into

consideration the interest of local utilities, public and environment. The local utilities can’t switch to

micro-grid technology overnight. But there must be consensus among all parties to accommodate the

microgrids in upcoming projects.

 4.Kim Harris. “Lake Elsinore says 'No' to LEAPS”, Valley News, (April 11, 2019).

Lake Elsinore Advanced Pump Storage (LEAPS) project is designed to meet reliable energy

requirements and reduce emissions using hydroelectric power storage. With a generating capacity of 500

Mw leaps uses the existing water bodies and the adjacent topography to its advantage Pumped Storage

is efficient form of renewable storage utilizing the energy stored in an upper water body pumped from a

lower water body. But, the flow of water from upper body to Lake through a turbine generator would

disturb the biological balance in existence. Facilities and Power Lines would be located in an area known

to be prone to Fires. The construction of reservoir may destroy the underground aquifer under the lake.

Although, pumped storage in LEAPS has the capability of meeting power requirements. But it can

also hamper the ecological balance. There must be proper research before any such initiatives and

projects are undertaken. The local people are the major stake holders in such projects related to ecology.

They must be informed and taken into confidence before such endeavors.

5. "About micro-grids" available at url https://building-micro-grid.lbl.gov/about-micro-grids

The introduction of micro-grids has brought improvement in energy supply and use throughout

the world. They have better energy efficiency, improved reliability and security of energy supply,

emphasize more on renewable resources, have lesser impact on environment and involves decision

making at local level. They are capable to exploit the full benefits from the integration of large numbers

of small-scale energy resources. The energy sources which are commonly incorporated are solar energy,

wind energy, geo-thermal, diesel generators etc. Thus, micro-grids provide a tremendous space for

different renewable resources available locally and at distant places to be utilized. Microgrid examples

include jails, dairy farms, universities etc.

 Microgrid can solve the problem of power shortage, reliability, efficiency. At the same time

address the problems of environment and climate change. Micro-grids utilize the benefits of renewable

and non-renewable resources and presents a holistic approach to the problem of power and environment.

There are cases the microgrid models have succeeded on small scale like in jails, dairy farms, universities.

With more research and funding the initial cost of microgrid can be brought down and the technical

challenges can be overcome.