More companies and communities are building microgrids as AI data centers, extreme weather, and aging infrastructure strain utilities. (Reuters)
DOE expects capacity to reach 10 GW by year’s end, up from 4.4 GW in 2022.
Who’s leading: California’s $200M incentive program and Texas’s $1.8B resilience fund are financing microgrids for fire-prone and storm-hit communities. Big Tech is also developing microgrids to guarantee uptime when the main grid falters.
The bigger shift: Instead of one vast, centralized system, the future grid may look like thousands of interconnected mini-grids—faster to deploy, harder to break, and built for high demand.