Colorado Governor, Jared Polis administration has released the Colorado Microgrid Roadmap, which outlines opportunities to improve power grid resilience in Colorado through innovative microgrid solutions.
"Microgrids will bring big benefits to communities, across Colorado including in rural areas, by saving people money on energy bills and keeping the power on,” said Governor Polis. “This roadmap provides a clear path to improve the opportunities for Coloradans to access locally produced, low cost, reliable energy."
Considering wildfires and extreme weather causing more frequent and longer power outages in Colorado communities, the Colorado Legislature passed and Governor Polis signed bipartisan legislation directing the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) and the Department of Local Affairs’ (DOLA) Colorado Resiliency Office to explore the uses, benefits, challenges, and policy recommendations for microgrids to increase grid resilience and reliability.
The Polis administration used a portion of its federal Grid Resilience Formula Funding from President Biden’s landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure law to support the roadmap development.
The roadmap defines and evaluates different types of microgrids, develops criteria to identify priority projects, and recommends key policies to facilitate microgrid deployment in Colorado. It also includes strategies for addressing costs, interconnection standards, and legal considerations, which are among the main challenges for microgrid implementation in the state.
It recommends prioritizing microgrid projects in communities that are most vulnerable to power outages and possess higher social and climate risk factors. The State developed a community-informed critical infrastructure and facility prioritization process as part of the Roadmap to help identify key areas and critical facilities and prioritize resources to meet local needs.
Microgrids exchange power with a traditional utility grid, while also receiving power from local electricity sources, including clean energy like wind, solar, and geothermal; fossil fuel generation; and batteries. Local adoption of clean energy and battery storage systems as part of microgrid projects reduces greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by increasing clean electricity generation and decreasing demand on utility power grids.
