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News and blog by Microgrids
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Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill (SB) 1339 (Stern, 2018) that orders the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to examine the benefits of electrical microgrids and possibly develop a rate structure—otherwise known as a “tariff”—which can set the stage for a very promising future for greater microgrid integration into the state’s power grid.
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Historically, municipal and investor-owned utilities have primarily controlled electric services in the U.S. with consumers positioned at end points of complex, interconnected grid systems. Today, with increasing development of distributed energy resources, including wind and solar power and on-site energy storage, microgrids — islands of self-contained power capable of operating on or off the grid — are changing the energy landscape.