As part of the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV), the state of New York is in the process of transitioning away from simple net energy metering to a scheme which compensates distributed energy resources (DER) based on when and where the energy is generated. That means that a kWh of electricity generated at 5 PM is worth more than one generated at 9 AM, for example, and one generated in a congested part of the city is worth more than say upstate. The new system, formally called the Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER), takes all of that into consideration when determining the monetary value of solar exports.

The thing is, the new energy industry is not yet in the algorithm stage of maturity. This feels silly, because the traditional energy industry is old and seen as an area lacking in innovation. But here we are on the cusp of seeing our entire energy infrastructure undergo a total butterfly-like transformation, and innovation is at the core of that transformation. Everything old is new again, and we as an industry find ourselves back at the Mystery and Heuristic stages of technology development.

The new energy industry is just not ready for full automation of the feasibility, design, and operational processes. It is coming. We will get there. Some energy applications (solar) are more advanced along the path of maturity than others (energy storage, energy trading). But for now, you should absolutely want to have a human in the loop while designing and deploying energy systems.

Here are five reasons you should always want human eyes on whatever analysis you commission to design, build, and operate systems of DERs:

The term microgrid can have a lot of different meanings so I thought it might be good to explain how we use it here at muGrid, especially given that, you know, it’s in our name.

When we say microgrid, we’re generally referring to a collection of distributed energy resources that can be operated in isolation from the main electrical grid. Maybe they operate in isolation all the time like if you live off-grid or perhaps they are grid-connected during normal operation and only operate in islanded mode when the grid goes down. This latter case is becoming more and more common and is sometimes called an advanced microgrid. The key here is that they can be operated in isolation, even if they often aren’t.