Now that registration for our 8th Annual HOMER International Microgrid Conference is live, in this issue of HOMER Microgrid News, we continue to highlight topics that will be featured in the conference.
This month we published an informative article on the latest regulatory reform by the California Public Utilities Commission, which leads US reform efforts. The regulatory status of microgrids has been one of the challenges to their deployment. In developing countries, one of the greatest concerns is about competition from subsidized grid extensions. In the US, there are many issues such as conflicts with right-of-way easements, interconnection requirements, and tariff structures, to name just a few.
During the Conference, we will take a deeper look at reform developments in a session focused on regulatory issues. Regulations for Power Suppliers: What, Where & Why will be Wednesday, October 14th.
We also have a great new case study on EV charging stations about a company using HOMER to develop green charging stations. EVs, along with low-cost renewables and batteries, are changing the electric utility sector at a faster rate than it has ever experienced. We plan on staying on the cutting edge of these developments and have a related conference presentation entitled Grid Connected Systems for Resilience, Demand Charge Management & EV Charging.
The article on 60Hertz illustrates the maturing of the remote microgrid industry. There are now enough systems out there that we are well beyond the pilot and demonstration project stage. Commercial operators need to focus like a laser on operations and maintenance. This is especially challenging for remote microgrids. It is prohibitively expensive to fly-in highly trained technicians, so 60Hertz has developed an app that can work with or without continuous connectivity to assist the local technicians. Piper Foster-Wilder, CEO of 60Hertz, will present during our Microgrids for Energy Access: Recent Advances session on Wednesday, October 14th.
Finally, we have a new Proposal Writer for HOMER Pro to complement the one we released for HOMER Grid a couple of months ago. I hope you all are as excited as I am about the progress of distributed energy and hybrid power systems.