Noted: Chris Marnay, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been working on microgrids for 10 years. He’s been working with Prof. Robert Lasseter at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who came up with one concept of a microgrid that involves small generators that monitor voltage and frequency nearby in the microgrid and use the information to maintain safe and stable operation when “islanded” from the larger grid. The challenge has been to create microgrids that have control when they are independent of the larger grid, as well as the ability to seamlessly disconnect and reconnect to utility power, says Marnay.
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