(task) NY Spends $40M on Microgrid Contest | Energy Manager Today

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NY Spends $40M on Microgrid Contest

August 29, 2014 by Linda Hardesty

New York is hosting a $40 million NY Prize Competition to inspire a new generation of local power by challenging New York businesses, entrepreneurs, and electric utilities to design and implement community-based microgrids.

The competition aims to inspire new plans for protecting and strengthening the electrical system in the face of major storms.

Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the competition will prioritize project replicability and transparency.

Microgrids are local energy networks that are able to fully separate from the larger electric grid during extreme weather events. New York already has 75 microgrid deployments and 200 MW of installed microgrid capacity according to GTM Research. New York’s energy policy is moving to a more market-based, decentralized approach.

Earlier this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled plans for an energy modernization initiative that will fundamentally transform the way electricity is distributed and used in New York State. Under the Reforming Energy Vision (REV) initiative, utilities will actively manage and coordinate a wide range of distributed resources or generate electricity from many small energy sources and link them together.