Rural cooperative utilities were created under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as a utility structure benefiting from large-scale investments by the federal government in large hydroelectric facilities. These large infrastructure projects were designed to create jobs. Yet they also could provide low-cost electricity to regions, primarily in the West, that the private sector had not […]
Author: Michael Clark
Looking Back on the Legacy of Larry Adams, A True Microgrid Controls Pioneer
The evolution of microgrid controls is filled with brilliant people. Among them is Larry Adams, who is now inching toward retirement, but is still refining control algorithms to be integrated into Encorp’s Egility platform. His legacy is an unrecognized key role in pushing the microgrid concept into the mainstream. Larry started his career in controls […]
As Microgrid Industry Consolidates, Is Bigger Better?
A sign of industry maturity is consolidation. The typical cycle for any new technology or business model is that at the start, a wide array of companies enter the space. The market is chaotic, with many approaches to solving a market need or problem being launched. You could say, this is the stage where we […]
Hardware Matters When it Comes to Microgrids
With all the hype today about new kinds of super smart software incorporating concepts such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, it is easy to forget about the critical role that actual hardware physical assets play in creating microgrids and other forms of distributed energy resources (DER) aggregation and […]
Santa Rita Jail: A Peek into the Future of Advanced Microgrids
Santa Rita Jail is the fifth largest county jail in the nation, requiring reliable and secure electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If there ever was a critical facility, this jail is it: an extended outage could endanger lives and public safety. Thanks to recent upgrades managed by Encorp’s latest generation of […]