Though the microgrid concept boasts a small cadre of enthusiastic backers, general awareness of microgrids to date can most aptly be described as underwhelming. Before exploring the role that the U.S. Department of Defense can play in bringing attention to this concept, here is Pike Research’s definition of a microgrid:

“An integrated energy system consisting of distributed energy resources and multiple electrical loads operating as a single, autonomous grid either in parallel to or ‘islanded’ from the existing utility power grid.”

With so much hype surrounding the implementation of smart grid technologies, the benefits and value of microgrids have gone largely overlooked. These benefits include enhanced reliability of energy supply and quality, greater security of data, lower energy costs and fewer carbon emissions when renewable energy generation is employed. Such benefits make the value proposition of microgrids highly appealing to large energy consumers who suffer financially during power outages, such as industrial users. Why, then, are there so few microgrids in operation?

The first and foremost reason is that microgrids actually go against standard engineering protocol for safe operation of the electrical grid. However, new inverters, smart switches and advanced software programs now render these engineering limitations obsolete. Next spring, the IEEE will publish a guide for safe islanding that will allow a microgrid to continue operation when the larger grid goes down.

Pike Research has identified dozens of microgrids under development, including some that have been operating for years in Japan. Yet, due to automated grid security, these projects have been unable to test their islanding capability. As a result, relatively few microgrids have reached a point where the benefit of a dependable supply of energy has been validated. Until standards are in place that allow microgrids to demonstrate this benefit, adoption will continue to be slow.

The good news is that there is a significant opportunity to change this trend. As awareness about the electrical grid’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks has increased in recent times, the U.S. military has become one of the strongest proponents of microgrids. According to a U.S. Department of Energy presentation at the Vancouver 2010 Symposium on Microgrids, there are more than a dozen military facilities in the U.S. currently engaged in microgrid implementations, most of them incorporating renewable distributed generation as a way of increasing reliability and security. The opportunity to help develop these microgrids has attracted a number of powerful technology companies including Lockheed Martin, GE, and Honeywell. There is also growing interest from firms overseas – such as Rolls Royce – in the mobile battleground microgrid concept, since so many casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are linked to fossil fuel supply lines.

Military microgrids are also gaining recognition on Capitol Hill. In May, Rep. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico introduced the Military Energy Security Act, or MESA Act, which calls for $25 million in funding for a military facility microgrid “pilot program” to be completed by 2014. While microgrids will need to prove their benefits well before this deadline to survive as an innovation, getting the attention of legislators is a big step in the right direction.

The U.S. military has been credited with a number of notable inventions including the Internet, digital photography and GPS. Will the microgrid be counted amongst these historic innovations one day? It’s difficult to tell. For now, the military market represents one of the greatest opportunities to enhance awareness of microgrids and boost adoption of this unique approach to energy distribution.