This is a painful list to create because it’s hard to narrow it down to 10. Nonetheless, I had to stop somewhere so here are my 10 intriguing distributed energy projects and plans to watch in 2025. Let me know what you’d add.
1. An off-grid and urban apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Michigan
My top choice checks all the boxes for advancing distributed energy in a way that promotes energy democracy and does so with cool technology and design innovation.
SouthTown, an eight-story apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Michigan, embodies some big forward-looking concepts. Its electricity system is not connected to the utility grid but operates off-grid with a sophisticated integrated building management and energy management system. The project includes a geothermal field, fuel cells, batteries, solar arrays, and carbon capture system to supply electricity, heating, and cooling for 216 residences, commercial/retail areas, and common areas. SouthTown will use the gas network to bring renewable natural gas (and later hydrogen) to the site. And includes electric vehicle charging parking and an EV riding share program. Learn more by listening to this podcast or reading Going Off-Grid to Tackle Big Problems in Energy and Real Estate.
2. Community solar by and for the community: Sunset Park Solar
Distributed energy allows the sharing of energy wealth in ways centralized energy technologies do not. That’s one of its distinguishing characteristics. But we’re far from figuring out how that will work in practice.
Sunset Park Solar offers a start. The 725-kW solar array in Brooklyn does everything we expect from community solar, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing cost savings to its 150 members. But it goes a step further. Revenue generated by the solar array goes into a community wealth fund that Sunset Park residents decide how to spend, possibly on more solar. The point is that the energy wealth goes back to their community.
Located in South Brooklyn’s waterfront district, the project was developed over several years through local organizing with the help of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), UPROSE, and Working Power. It is meant to serve as a model for future solar projects in New York City, according to First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springe. Construction of the solar array, led by Working Power, is set to begin in early 2025. Read more in the community, on NYCEDC’s website and on Canary Media.
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3. Off-grid EV solar charging takes off
We hear a lot of angst about how difficult it could be for the grid to accommodate demand created by electric vehicle charging, particularly where power flow is constrained. So it’s unsurprising that Solaflect, a small Vermont solar installer, says it’s seeing interest spike in its off-grid electric vehicle charging technology.
Williams College followed in the footsteps of Dartmouth and Middlebury colleges by installing Solaflect’s systems, which the company describes as “homegrown solar energy that fits in your yard or parking lot.” Williams had too few grid-connected charging stations for the number of EVs on the campus, and adding more would have caused too much strain on the local utility grid.
Solaflect is far from alone in pursuing off-grid EV charging. Some of the many other companies working in the space are BoxPower, EVESCO, Beam Global, DC Grid, Paired Power as well as large energy developers. It’s also become a favorite of the DYI solar crowd for home installations. With EV ownership rising and grid interconnection slow and difficult in parts of the US, expect to see more off-grid EV charging stations built.
4. AEP and Bloom chase biggest fuel cell deal yet
It’s a big deal — how big remains to be seen. AEP has committed to acquire 1 GW of Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cells and has bought about 100 MW so far. The fuel cells are used as onsite power to serve data centers because they can be installed quicker than natural gas generators or nuclear.
Should AEP take the entire 1 GW, the deal will be a game changer; Bloom says it would represent the largest commercial procurement of fuel cells in the world to date. The fuel cells will provide power with 34% lower carbon emissions than today’s displaced marginal generation resources in PJM Interconnection, according to Bloom. AEP is expected to expand its order beyond the initial 100 MW in 2025. More here.
5. Using distributed batteries pegged to local pricing to serve customers and the grid: Base Power
As Base Power sees it, home batteries are too expensive for most households, and centralized batteries take too long to bring online, leaving their real potential untapped.
So entrepreneurs Zach Dell and Justin Lopas are taking another approach. Their model uses batteries as a home energy service. The batteries act as grid assets keyed to locational marginal pricing.
“The way we think about it is that existing home batteries on the market are like Lamborghini batteries, and we’re building Corolla batteries, which is kind of a joke, but kind of serious. And you wouldn’t build a taxi fleet out of Lamborghinis, right?” Dell told Tech Brew
For a deeper dive, listen to David Roberts’ interview with the co-founders on Volts.
This is one to watch because if it works, Base Power wants to expand the model into other restructured states.
6. Boston hospital prescribes solar to reduce patients’ bills
This one makes the list for its creative way of using solar to solve a non-energy problem.
A Boston hospital is easing the financial burden of medical care for its patients using solar virtual net metering.
Through a program called Clean Power Prescription, Boston Medical Center Health System allocates credits earned from its 356-kW solar array to individual patients’ homes to lower their electric bills.
“When people can’t afford the cost of running their air conditioner, they can be exposed to extreme heat, or they might under-use treatments like CPAP or nebulizers that rely on electricity,” said Anna Goldman, MD, MPH, MPA, a primary care physician who created and co-founded Clean Power Prescription at BMCHS with Robert Biggio, senior vice president and chief sustainability & real estate officer. “Through this innovative program, we are able to directly improve patients’ health, while providing a healthier environment and economic mobility opportunities for the communities we serve. Our program also helps to spread the benefits of cheaper, less-polluting renewable power more equitably as we work toward decarbonizing our electrical grid.”
In the program’s pilot phase, it provided 80 low-income patients with average monthly credits of $50 per month or about $600 in savings per household per year, representing 30% off the average Bostonian’s annual electrical bill.
The hospital is now inviting local businesses, real estate holders, and institutions to participate by contributing renewable energy credits to patients.
NPR featured the program.
7. David Energy aims to solve renewable intermittency with DERs
Forecasts about rising demand for power have a lot of people worried. But not James McGinniss, CEO and co-founder of New York-based David Energy. He sees it as spurring a new level of innovation.
“A lot of people are talking about [load growth] as a problem. It’s actually a great thing, ultimately,” he told Latitude Media. “There’s not enough grid; they can’t interconnect; there’s not enough supply; what have you. They’re going to solve the problem on their own. And a lot of that is happening behind the meter.”
McGinniss has an idea of his own to meet demand. With a $23 million investment led by Cathay Innovation, the retail energy provider is on a quest to smooth renewable energy intermittency through networks of batteries, solar panels, EVs, smart thermostats, and other devices to smooth renewable energy fluctuations in real-time.
“The core challenge in operating modern grids is managing the volatility brought on by renewables,” McGinniss said. “No grid operator, retailer, or vertically integrated utility across the globe has solved this problem, and that’s precisely what we intend to do.”
It’s a big job. But then the company’s name comes from the David and Goliath story, so taking on giants is its trademark. Read more.
8. Ann Arbor, Michigan launches a kind of distributed energy public utility
On the policy front, this is one of the most intriguing projects of the year involving distributed energy. With a mandate from 80% of the city’s voters in November, Ann Arbor is setting up a community-owned utility to provide solar and storage for homes and businesses that opt into the program.
A conservative analysis done for the city indicates that subscribers to the SEU will pay the same amount or less for their energy than those who take their power from the local utility, DTE Energy. At the same time, distributed energy resources (DERs) should afford them greater electric reliability in a region where an aging grid is vulnerable to power outages.
Since the SEU provides energy via DERs it does not need to own utility infrastructure. So the model offers a way to build a municipal-run utility without the expense and legal hassle of taking ownership of wires, poles and other property owned by the local investor-owned utility — which is the death knell for many attempts at municipalization. Read more on Energy Changemakers or listen to this Energy Changemakers’ podcast: A Campaign to Create a Distributed Energy Utility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
9. Ukraine as model for how DERs offer energy security
With two-thirds of Ukraine’s dispatchable power destroyed, damaged or occupied by Russia, the country offers a textbook example of why distributed energy resources (DER) act as energy security. DERs are better than central generation in wartime because they’re dispersed and don’t require long distance wires for deivery, so are less easy to target.
It’s not surprising that the state-owned Energy Company of Ukraine (ECU) is trying to create a deentralized grid — an idea supported by the International Energy Agency in its recent report, Empowering Ukraine Through a Decentralized Electricity System.
“The development of flexible distributed generation – in particular by installing renewable energy sources, storage, efficient cogeneration, gas turbine and gas piston units – will make our energy sector less vulnerable to Russian attacks. Distributed generation will certainly remain our priority and we hope for support and close cooperation with partners in these areas,” said Roman Andarak, Ukraine deputy minister.
Ukraine urgently needs small gas turbines and DERs such as solar PV and batteries to address this winter’s projected 6 GW winter power deficit. IEA offers a longer term vision for creating a decentralized grid in Ukraine through 2030 in its report.
The ECU plans to set up a new business operation that offers DER investors help with technical solutions, economic models, obtaining permits, and operational and commercial management services, including load planning, dispatching, electricity purchase and sale and imbalance optimization.
“Distributed generation is key to the country’s energy strategy and requires a systemic approach. Having experience in supporting Ukrainian and foreign investors in energy projects, ECU has made this a separate business area. We strive to shape a new energy landscape of Ukraine through distributed generation, increasing the reliability of the power system and ensuring stable income for owners and investors,” said Vitaliy Butenko, CEO.
10. The home electric panel gains new stature
With the advent of rooftop solar, batteries, EV charging and heat pumps, our homes are gaining vanguard status in the energy transition. I originally wanted to interview Alex Bazhinov, CEO of Lumin, because of his interesting origin tale as an energy entrepreneur. But I ended up with an eye-opening education on how the once boring home electrical panel is changing household energy management and averting expensive electrical upgrades sometimes required for EV charging. Check out the Energy Changemakers’ podcast: An Entrepreneurs Journey from Russia and Oil to the US and Clean Energy: Lumin.
