According to a recently released report by Maryland’s a Resiliency Through Microgrids Task Force, there is an important wave forming in the development of microgrids — those that serve multiple customers over multiple properties and cross public rights of way in the process. These “public purpose microgrids” have the potential to offer important societal benefits during periods when the macrogrid is down, while allowing for the economic and innovative integration of distributed generation and energy storage systems during normal operations.