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EcoStruxure™ Microgrids

Microgrids provide resilience, sustainability, and efficient energy solutions by leveraging onsite renewable generation with smart grid resources, leading to better connectivity and driving toward decarbonisation and the democratisation of energy.

What is a microgrid?

A microgrid is a self-contained electrical network that allows you to generate your own electricity on-site and use it when you need it most. For this purpose, your microgrid will connect, monitor, and control your facility’s distributed energy resources (DER) while enhancing performance, sustainable footprint, and resilience. You can operate microgrids while connected to the utility grid or in disconnected “island” mode. When the grid goes down or electricity prices peak, microgrids respond.

The three main benefits of microgrids:

Enable greener operations by integrating on-site renewables such as wind and solar.
Save energy expenses by optimising demand, storing electricity, and selling it back to the grid during peak demand.
Improve reliability, thus keeping your facility's power on during grid outages.

How do microgrids work?

A microgrid co-locates electricity generation and consumption. Unlike the utility grid, which generates electricity in a centralised power plant and then distributes it along hundreds of miles of transmission lines, a microgrid generates electricity on-site. For electricity generation, microgrids typically use some combination of backup diesel generators and renewables such as solar panels. Microgrids can incorporate battery systems to store electricity and deploy it during outages or when grid demand spikes.

Learn how microgrids work

Who benefits from a microgrid?

Today, organisations of all kinds are turning to microgrids and distributed energy resources for financial and sustainability benefits. We’ve worked with a diverse set of customers: from municipal governments and military bases to nature preserves and vertical farms. Microgrids can also be utilised in remote areas where energy access is limited or nonexistent to provide much-needed resources. Any organisation seeking to gain control over energy costs, advance sustainability, and increase resiliency can benefit from a microgrid.

How much does a microgrid cost?

Microgrids range dramatically in complexity and size. The exciting answer for organisations is “it’s free” because an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) approach eliminates your upfront costs. A microgrid, in a more traditional way, is a CapEx and an OpEx model. In a project mode, it’s high CapEx and low or no OpEx, in an energy-as-a-service business model, it’s high OpEx. EaaS is a financing model for microgrids that allows you to avoid upfront costs. Similar to a software-as-a-service model, with EaaS you avoid capital expenditures and instead pay only for ongoing service.

Explore our software, services, and products for Microgrids

Harmony ST6

EcoStruxure EV Charging Expert

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Grid-Tie String Inverters

Hybrid Inverters

See what our customers are saying

South Australian Produce Market

This fresh produce wholesale market uses our microgrid solutions as part of its ambitious sustainability goals, which include cutting annual greenhouse gas emissions by 32%.

Brookville Bus Depot

Located just west of Washington D.C., Montgomery County's robust transit system is fuelled by an electric vehicle fleet and a microgrid solution that is critical to their long-term climate goals.

Citycon

This leading owner of urban centres in the Nordics implemented a microgrid solution to enable the smartest and most sustainable urban centre on the market.

Learn more

Explore our latest insights on Microgrid solutions

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Ready to understand the microgrid basics? Find all the answers to 10 key questions on why and how microgrids are essential.

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Learn how energy-as-a-service (EaaS) solutions offer the opportunity to dramatically increase energy resiliency while incurring no upfront capital costs.

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Energy as a Service for reduced financial risk

Want to make your organisation’s power more resilient and sustainable? Microgrids can help — and Energy as a Service (EaaS) is a business model that eliminates financial risk.

Customer success story: Bubolz Nature Preserve

This nature preserve in Wisconsin, United States, is home to one of the world’s most advanced microgrid solutions.

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As electrification and the transition to renewables continues, learn how microgrids are becoming a strong part of the solution.

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Get energy management services that eliminate upfront costs and capital expenditures, enabling improved energy resilience and sustainability.

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EcoStruxure for eMobility

An end-to-end connected solution to integrate EV charging solutions into a microgrid system for optimised demand and electrification needs.

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1. Microgrid solutions from Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric offers efficient microgrid solutions based on a combination of Edge Control Systems, Connected Products, Applications, Analytics, and Services. Connected Products include Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), Grid-Tie String Inverters, and Hybrid Inverters. Applications, Analytics, and Services include EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor and EcoStruxure Microgrid Operation, and Edge Control includes Harmony ST6 and EcoStruxure EV Charging Expert. We offer repeatable, scalable, and IoT-enabled microgrid solutions and end-to-end services, including electrical distribution services.

2. Different types of microgrids

Broadly speaking, there are three types of microgrids:

Remote microgrids: These are also called off-grid microgrids. Remote microgrids can operate in island mode and be physically isolated from the utility grid in case of a lack of affordable and available transmissions or distribution infrastructure in the nearby area.
Grid-connected microgrids: They have a physical connection to the utility grid through a switching mechanism at the point of common coupling (PCC); however, they can be disconnected into island mode and reconnected back to the main grid when required.
Networked microgrids: These systems are also called nested microgrids and consist of several microgrids and separate DERs connected to the same utility grid circuit segment. They serve a wide geographic area.

3. Differences between a microgrid and a smart grid

Microgrids are different from smart grids. A microgrid is a self-sufficient and localised energy system serving a discrete geographic footprint, which may be a business centre, hospital complex, etc. It includes distributed energy sources and multiple loads, which can be operated parallelly with the broader utility grid. Smart grids, on the other hand, are electrical grids that operate on a larger scale and can regulate energy flows from generation points to consumption points. They include communication, automation, and IT systems.

4. Designing of a microgrid

Schneider Electric offers a ready-to-use solution to help you design a microgrid, regardless of the application. Our pre-engineered microgrid control centres have all the components you need for power management, control, energy metering, and power monitoring. In addition, our microgrid management software – EcoStruxure – offers pre-engineered algorithms to make the functions standardised and reliable.