Going off the grid is not just for remote islands like Pellworm in Germany and the Isle of Eigg in Scotland. Reducing reliance on fossil fuels has never been more attractive. With the falling cost of renewable energy technology and the increasing power bills – coupled with reliability issues and outages – the advantages of locally generated power simply add up.
After repeated power outage during a string of storms, Nassau, an upstate New York town town of 5,000 has decided to take its buildings off the power grid. On the forefront of many such towns across the country that are considering the switch to microgrids and energy independence – Nassau plans to rely on solar, wind, landfill gas and battery storage by 2020.
Spurred on by outage in the aftermath of Sandy, Fairfield, Connecticut last year launched an off-the-grid system which automatically takes over if the utility grid fails. Unlike Nassau’s plan though, Fairfield remains connected to the grid and sells excess power back to its utility company.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Connecticut was the first state to institute a microgrid program in 2012 – and it has already awarded $23.1 million for such projects. In a micro grid rush – New York State is running a first-in-the nation $40 million competition to help communities create microgrids – standalone energy systems that can operate independently in the event of a power outage. And Massachusetts has kicked-off its own version of the NY Prize by offering $650,000 for community microgrid feasibility studies.
Elsewhere in the world, in Huntlee, Australia – a new residential development north of Sydney is setting an exciting precedent with entire community being built off the power grid. Here, 20,000 new residents in 7,500 homes will rely solely on renewable energy. The Australian Government is offering $440,000 in support towards the $1.1 million work in the NSW town to examine the benefits to energy independent suburbs. With rooftop solar panels, central battery storage facility, recycled water plant and rainwater harvesting supported by geothermal engineering – a financial and technological case could be made for towns and communities living off the grid.
Last year Australia’s CSIRO and its Energy Networks Association stated that by 2050 a third of Australians could leave the electricity grid. And with grassroots support – renewable energy in towns across the country could be a reality sooner than expected.