Emerging Markets, Military Microgrids & Abu Dhabi Solar, More Microgrid News --- January 18, 2017

Weekly Microgrid News — January 18, 2017

Solar installation in Abu Dhabi (story below). Photo credit: Gulf News Archive

21 MW of Solar PV for Emerging Market Community Microgrids Announced Since April

In the past nine months, 21 MW of new solar PV community microgrid capacity has been announced in emerging global markets, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). In its inaugural quarterly outlook for the off-grid and microgrid market, BNEF said an additional 2.3 MW of wind mini-grids also are in the pipeline. These solar and wind microgrid projects are located in Nepal, Madagascar, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Mai, Democratic Republic of Congo, and American Samoa.

How Military Microgrids Could Save the U.S.

According to a new report, Power Begins at Home, shows the U.S. military could save hundreds of millions of dollars each year by switching its bases from diesel backup generators to more efficient microgrids. In one of their final public events, outgoing assistant secretaries for the Army, Navy and Air Force made the case for continuing investments in military energy security and efficiency.

Off-grid Solar PV Powers Abu Dhabi Desalination Plant

The water desalination plant in Ghantoot, Abu Dhabi is a cluster of five innovative pilot projects that aim to test new technology configurations and bring them to the market. The latest pilot project added to the cluster of the water desalination plants in Ghantoot uses electricity generated by a 30 KW off-grid solar PV system. The Ghantoot cluster will also install three solar thermal collector systems. These will be used to produce heat since many desalination plants consume heat.