This month’s newsletter reinforces my belief that we really are at an inflection point in the transition to clean energy. The U.S. is making a 180-degree turn toward aggressively promoting clean energy as described in “U.S. Bill to Create a Cleaner Energy Future.“ Though the bill may change through the legislative process, it is clearly a good sign for hybrid power, renewables and microgrids that this effort is taking place at the highest levels.
Then, we move on to Nigeria where the story of one mini-grid highlights the importance of supportive government policies. Nigeria–Africa’s largest country in terms of both GDP and population–has also become a leader in promoting clean energy mini-grids. Now more Africans are benefiting economically from new-found access to energy due to the dramatic increase in mini-grid development in that sector.
The call for speakers is now open for our 9th annual HOMER Microgrid and Hybrid Power International, October 12-14. We encourage energy professionals with an interesting take on microgrids or hybrid systems to submit a presentation proposal. Please see our list of topics, which is as diverse as the use of microgrids. For example, in this newsletter, we describe an industrial microgrid in Costa Rica that is grid-connected but finds it very profitable to island off-grid during peak hours. While their motivation is mostly economic, our webinar this month focuses on microgrids for resilience.
I hope you will join us as I present alongside the Green Business Certification, Inc.’s (GBCI) Katherine Hammack. GBCI is well-known for creating the LEED program for buildings and are now doing a similar certification process called PEER for microgrids.
As always, I want to thank our loyal readers and encourage you to submit presentation proposals for our conference.