The value of green microgrid solutions as Energy-as-a-Service

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The microgrid market has evolved in the past decade , offering the benefits of emergency backup generation to customers who can’t afford site-specific and complicated engineered systems of the past. Until now, modular microgrids have proven to be a low-cost, long-term solution offering tremendous resilience.

Schneider Electric has been expanding the concept to data centers with an energy-as-a-service provider, AlphaStruxure. This guide will assess the value of green microgrid solutions as EaaS around the world. First, here is a brief overview of Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) by AlphaStruxure:

Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) by AlphaStruxure

EaaS transfers the burden of owning, installing, managing, and financing energy from your firm to AlphaStruxure through long-term investment. AlphaStruxure owns, builds, designs, and manages energy systems, with your organizational success its priority. Without requiring any capital outlay, EaaS provides you with the power to enhance your efficiency and productivity, putting your organization in a much better position to achieve your cost, resilience, reliability, and sustainability goals.

Challenges faced by firms

The present-day energy landscape has become largely uncertain based on the following facts:

Rising costs

In the past 15 years, energy costs in the US have seen an unprecedented increase, with some states  experiencing up to 63% rise in retail electricity rates. The Associate State Director of AARP Texas, Tim Morstad, predicts many retail customers will suffer outrageous increases in rates in the upcoming times, and the most vulnerable customers of retail energy providers are the ones who’ve subscribed for the variable-rate plans that increase and decrease based on market fluctuations.

Unpredictable weather

If you compare the current scenario in the US with that of the past, extreme weather conditions have become a new norm, accelerating the annual cost of severe weather to over $300 billion, with unplanned downtime rising up to $17,244 per minute.

Consider the recent power outages in Texas (Feb 2021) resulting from frigid, icy weather. According to Global News, the conditions caused power outages to spread throughout the state, cutting off over 4 million people. Grocery stores were forced to close down and hotel rates skyrocketed. Although the emergency has subsided, more preparation is needed for similar situations in the future.

Sustainability demands

Client demand for accelerating government climate policies and clean energy requires fresh approaches to long-term sustainability. It’s no wonder that 24 states have pledged to support the Paris Agreement.

Complex technologies

With a more digitized, decarbonized, and decentralized grid, businesses are now required to make complicated decisions in the face of rapidly-changing technologies.

There’s more need for sustainable and resilient energy than ever. Here’s how Schneider Electric and AlphaStruxure addresses the need:

Benefits of Green Microgrid Solutions as EaaS

Resilient in mission-critical environments

In the current scenario, data centers are faced with competing capital needs, an aging infrastructure, surging energy costs, and constantly evolving uptime. At the same time, they demand greater sustainability. The energy-as-a-service (EaaS) approach by AlphaStruxure helps accomplish the benefits of cost-effective, resilient, sustainable, and reliable onsite generation while also promising mechanical infrastructure refreshes without any upfront cost.

Makes energy a competitive advantage

Those who’ve been in the energy sector for a while now recognize the need to enhance sustainability. They’re well aware of the worsening power outages and escalating energy costs. Using tailored decentralized energy solutions, AlphaStruxure is making sustainability and energy a strategic advantage for clients through green microgrid solutions that involve no complexity, risk, or upfront costs.

Enables robust infrastructure

AlphaStruxure’s microgrid projects are helping high-profile infrastructure projects meet the most stringent renewable energy standards. At the same time, they’re facilitating resilient operations when faced with severe weather conditions. In other words, Energy-as-as-Service is the solution for forward-thinking professionals.

Multiple energy sources

Instead of relying on a single utility provider, microgrids offer a holistic approach and bring together several sources of energy. To meet energy goals, the controller increases or decreases the use of any of the microgrid’s combination of resources. The resulting microgrid infrastructure is optimized to deliver power intelligently. Not only are they smart, but they also leverage data-driven solutions for software and their control pane.

Easy to manage

A common myth about microgrids is that they are challenging and complicated to manage. That’s no longer true. Present-day microgrids are far simpler to manage and yet significantly enhance resiliency owing to their more integration points with power solutions.

Reliable, sustainable, and resilient energy

Recent trends are making it increasingly complicated for organizations to secure reliable, sustainable, and resilient energy. Green microgrid solutions have helped resolve these problems in the form of EaaS. EaaS solutions can help firms mitigate risks, reduce costs, improve operational performance, ensure business continuity, and accomplish tough sustainability targets.

To learn more contact AlphaStruxure.