Investigating US State Level Macroeconomic Trends That Influence Microgrid Adoption

Microgrids are complex energy projects that link, integrate, and optimize a variety of distributed energy resources (DER) to achieve certain goals. As retail electricity rates continue to rise, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events causing grid outages increases, and decarbonization goals become more aggressive, customers in all segments are investigating microgrids. These projects may be deployed to serve a variety of use cases including cost savings, increased energy resilience, and enhanced sustainability. Microgrids can generate significant value for both the end consumers directly benefitting from the system and the larger utility grid with which it is interconnected.

Guidehouse Insights has developed a customizable connected DER analysis tool that can give those stakeholders who may be interested in entering the microgrid market, but lack familiarity with it, a high level introduction to macroeconomic trends having an impact on the market. Inputs can be adjusted to reflect different business strategies and anticipated revenue streams of microgrid systems, and the output is a ranking of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia according to how favorable each one is for microgrid investment and development. The inputs were selected to cover a range of factors that influence customer adoption strategies for microgrids.

This Guidehouse Insights report outlines the US state level connected DER analysis tool developed by Guidehouse Insights to examine the regional differences in microgrid adoption. It details the methodology and input criteria for the tool and then provides example inputs and outputs for three different types of microgrid systems. Commentary on the output is provided as are recommendations for new stakeholders looking to enter the microgrid market.