Hundreds of millions of people around the world have no or lack reliable electricity. Even many families now have to choose between eating or heating. The quick depletion of non-renewable resources and the threat of climatic changes such as carbon emissions to a livable future are making more people consider solar micro grid installation.
People around the world are getting their communities on a microgrid to fight against climate change and reduce its impact on the planet. Interest in microgrid investment is increasing because these systems incorporate renewable power sources and provide electric supply during power outages.
What is a Microgrid?
This is a self-contained grid that removed itself from the conventional power grid by using renewable energy for power production. These are controllable and comparatively small power systems featuring one or more generation units linked to closer users that can work independently or complement the national grid. This helps communities in getting more resilient and sustainable power supplies.
What is a Solar Microgrid?
Solar microgrids are grids of power. Rather than using power produced by burning fossil fuels, microgrid solar systems obtain energy from solar panels. The system uses power produced by the sun and then capture, store, and deliver clean electricity to the whole community. For this, large solar panels and batteries are installed in a central location or hub. After their installation, the solar microgrid is completed by pairing electrical wiring from the hub to closer businesses, farms, and houses.
With solar energy, generators, and batteries for power storage, you can do almost everything you generally do using traditional electric sources. And since renewable energy has gotten more reasonable over the last decade, getting your community on a solar microgrid is more affordable today than ever before.
Environmental Benefits of Microgrid Solar Installation
Solar microgrid systems are developed as one of the highly important alternatives for creating a future that promotes economic efficiency, energy conservation, and consistent electricity.
No greenhouse gas emission
These systems provide the chance to use more zero-emission power sources. This eventually helps in decreasing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide. Microgrids use the heat produced after the working process to avoid energy loss and manage power supply and demand.
The beneficial nature of renewable and sustainable energy has resulted in their increased exploration. This helps in creating a perfect balance in the environment with production from non-controllable renewable energy sources with controllable and distributed generation. It ensures the protection of higher use of non-renewable power sources. Energy storage and batteries in electric vehicles can be used to balance generation and utilization within the solar microgrid.
Reduce power loss through transmission lines
There is a huge loss of power through transmission lines when it has to go through long distances. It leads to additional production to make sure it meets the far-away demand and supply of power. Microgrids use on-site energy. This means they produce power next to the site where it will be used. It is known as distributed generation. This eventually minimizes energy loss via transmission lines and less energy is needed to meet supply-demand of the same power requirements.
No unused heat
During energy production from specific centralized and conventional electricity sources like nuclear power and fossil fuels, a significant amount of heat energy is produced. This generally discharged unused or waste heat into the environment. Since microgrids produce power nearby the end users, it becomes economically possible to productively use the wasted heat in the form of heating water or space in close businesses and residential properties, thereby preventing greenhouse gas emissions.
Ways Microgrid Can Benefit the Whole Community
Here are some ways in which solar microgrids can benefit the whole community.
Enhance local power delivery
Solar microgrids improve local management of supply-demand of power requirements and reduce grid congestion. This ultimately decreases power prices and peak power needs. It may support the system’s reliability, avoid investment in additional electric capacity, and enhance system efficiency. Microgrids when linked to the local distribution network, manage from one node to deliver excess power or import imbalances from the neighboring system.
The organization or a local community actively participate in energy production with microgrid solar systems. It includes the installation of a specific technology or a group of systems in a particular property or a range of buildings thereby, bringing environmental and economic benefits.
Improve grid resilience
Solar microgrid systems make businesses, neighborhoods, and communities highly resilient to future because they are created using distributed and local sources of generation. They constantly power the sites even during an outage of the surrounding macrogrid.
The independent functioning of the microgrid systems from the nearby system is called islanding. Microgrids can even assist them to recover from a system failure either by re-energizing the macrogrid or by supporting services required by restoration crews.
Enhance reliability
Microgrid solar system helps a community to be ready for more power outages by giving a strong and renewable source of power backup. It helps communities even the whole country in becoming more energy secure by preventing the requirements of energy import from foreign nations. Solar-powered microgrids provide reliable electricity, decreasing the duration and frequency of power outages.
Where are the Solar Microgrid Systems Appropriate?
Although solar systems like solar street light services are appropriate for almost all Indian states, solar microgrids provide a robust solution to rural electrification. People living in remote rural areas where they can’t connect to existing infrastructure offered by private companies or the government, find microgrids most useful. Since solar microgrids use solar energy for effective functioning and electricity production, they perform exceptionally in areas receiving plenty of sunshine.
Conclusion
This is all about how using solar energy can benefit the environment and users. More and more communities are producing their own electricity using renewable energy sources like a ground-mounted solar system, rooftop solar panels, etc. If you want to get more involved in creating a pollution-free future, it’s time to install a top-quality solar microgrid and motivate your neighbors for producing your own power using clean and green solar energy.