IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2014 - 41

aggregators, e.g., wPPi energy, own generating facilities
and acquire electricity through power purchase contracts.
their generation mix mirrors that of conventional utilities,
with coal and nuclear supplying the bulk of the power and
wind power augmenting the supply where it is available.
Distributed resources usually do not factor into their supply chain.
this article looks at the potential of a new paradigm of
"community power" organization that still remains locally
controlled and focused on serving community energy needs
but avails itself of the latest distributed energy resources
(Ders), enabling distribution technologies and market mechanisms to develop a local energy system that is more sustainable, more secure, and that generates more tangible
economic benefits for the community.
an essential tool to implement
this new paradigm is consortium for
electric reliability technology solutions (certs) microgrid technology,
which generates power and heat
from Ders, manages loads, maintains stability, and goes into island
mode when the main grid goes into
fault and then resynchronizes automatically. to date, most certs
microgrids have been designed for
single-facility-level operation. we can
envision three types of certs
microgrids:
1) energy assurance microgrids :
cover critical loads (30-60%)
2) energy independence microgrids:
cover 100% of loads
3) revenue microgrids: cover 100%
of loads plus considerably more
capacity (100-300%) to sell excess power in different
value streams into local distribution systems.
this article presents an overview of the pressures leading
communities to examine a new energy paradigm and outlines a rough framework on how a fleet of revenue
microgrids could be used to provide different services for a
municipal-owned distribution system. elements of this new
community power paradigm include:
1) capacity assessment for local generation and reconciliation with distribution system planning goals
2) standardizing microgrid project engineering, procurement, construction (ePc), and interconnection.
3) integrating fleet microgrids with advanced distribution management and power control systems
4) interfacing microgrid secondary control networks for
power dispatch
5) establishing distribution-level transactive markets for
energy pricing and settlement
6) developing an integrated financial model that links
microgrid project development, energy micromarkets,
and distribution system operations.

Pressures Changing the Old Paradigm
an individual's values and actions, when aggregated with
other people, express themselves in two forms: consumer
demand for products and services and voting behavior for
all levels of government. consumer demand creates bottom-up pressures for change, and political choices create
top-down legislative and executive pressures. when one
pressure does not work, sometimes the other does. sometimes they work together: in conjunction with external
geopolitical events, they create pressure for changes that
were once thought impossible or not even imagined, especially in the power industry.

From Protests to Sustainability
the political and consumer pressures to create a new energy
infrastructure paradigm to better serve
community needs can be traced back 40
years to the seminal year of 1973. in January of that year, the united states and
Vietnam finally signed a cease-fire to the
long-running war and, by march, the last
u.s. troops had left Vietnam. in the united states, after the end of the war, the
massive social movement that opposed
the war disaggregated and people
moved on to more personal paths. in the
late 1970s and 1980s, the antiwar political movement and its counterculture
transposed into lifestyles of health and
sustainability (Lohas).
many people went on to apply the
critical social change ideas and organizational techniques that they learned
during Vietnam war protests to domestic sectors such as the food industry,
health care and medicine, automobile efficiency and safety, environmental issues concerned with air and water
quality, and consumer product life cycles. by the 1990s,
these disaggregated Lohas movements focused on the
concept of sustainability to unify what they learned into
concepts and practices that brought tangible benefits to
consumers, businesses, and government. today, sustainability concepts and practices are embraced by many businesses and governments around the world.

A fleet microgridenabled distribution
system may increase
the short-term LCOE
while at the same
time bringing
counter-balancing
local economic
benefits.

Oil Embargo of 1973 and Growth of Nuclear Power
another series of events in 1973 changed forever the concept of energy security around the world. when egypt and
syria invaded israel on the yom Kippur holiday, a ferocious
war ensued that only lasted a few weeks with israel eventually defeating its opponents. the aftermath of the war
had an enormous impact on world energy markets. During the war, the united states and the soviet union resupplied their respective allies. this american foreign policy
action led the organization of arab Petroleum exporting
countries to proclaim an oil embargo against the west and

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / MARCH 2 0 1 4

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2014