A Three-Day Conference on Capitalizing on Microgrids for Improved System Energy Efficiency, Reliability, and Providing Enabling Technologies for Grid Independence

ACI (Active Communications International) is holding their Fourth National Conference on Microgrids April 13-15, 2016, in Kansas City, MO. This conference is designed to provide tailored, efficient, and up-to-date information about microgrid technologies to building owners and end users, engineers and utility professionals and includes a wide range of distributed energy technologies. Technical sessions will address microgrid-related topics including generation, storage and advanced controls, metering and communications and their respective integration into a controlled system that manages energy generation, transmission, distribution, and usage on a small scale as compared to the conventional macrogrid.

Milbank will serve as ACI’s lead sponsor for this conference and will offer a tour of their microgrid-powered National Training Center. Through its lean initiative, Milbank was able to consolidate its Kansas City-based manufacturing into a single facility. The space vacated by manufacturing—located about ½-mile from the company’s headquarters—was repurposed. In addition to the company’s UL testing and R&D labs, a portion of the former manufacturing space was converted into a training facility. The Milbank National Training Center features 6,000 square feet dedicated to learning and development for use by employees, industry thought leaders and community groups. In 2010, the facility became the permanent home of MIT—the Milbank Institute of Training. As part of its commitment to quality and industry excellence, MIT offers a vast curriculum of online and on-site technical, product and business training for the electrical and power industry. The wind and solar-powered site also serves as a living lab for implementation, testing and training for SynapSuite™, Milbank’s patented microgrid management technology.

According to a report from Navigant Research, worldwide vendor revenue from microgrids will grow to nearly US$20 billion in annual revenue and more than four gigawatts by 2020 (Navigant Research 4Q 2013 Report).

With an aging electric grid, outages caused by natural disaster, and increased usage of renewable energy the microgrid gives hope to improving your community’s electrical reliability. A microgrid is a type of power grid that is much smaller than the traditional centralized electrical grid. It is localized and operates independently of a larger grid. Microgrids generate, distribute, and control the flow of energy to consumer. Moreover, developers and owners of microgrids can sell the excess power generated to utility companies. These advantages have increased the adoption of microgrid technology in a number of verticals including commercial, industrial, universities, hospitals, military bases and more notably communities.