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Tech Brew

Grid Reliability

Tricia Crimmins

techbrew.com

Hackers nearly taking over US energy plants. Federal cybersecurity groups thwarting the attacks. These alarming events aren’t plot points in a geopolitical thriller—this 

 in 2022 when operators connected to Russia hacked into the US energy supply. Such an attack would have left everyday Americans without power and potentially no way to get it.

That is, unless they had distributed generation systems on or near their homes and businesses. Distributed generation is power at or near the location where it’s being consumed, like residential solar or heat pumps. It can also be solar panels on the roofs of commercial buildings that help power their business operations.

At a time when the US grid is under a lot of strain from 

, distributed generation stands to be an impactful solution, according to Richard Dovere, CEO of Dispatch Energy, which designs behind-the-meter renewable energy systems.

According to Dovere, one of the “best applications of distributed generation” is helping utilities avoid pricey infrastructure updates, by incentivizing consumers to invest in distributed generation resources like rooftop solar that increase resiliency when the grid is experiencing outages.

“Utilities are regulated monopolies, but they have an obligation to serve their customers reliably,” Dovere told Tech Brew. “And they get into a lot of trouble when they don’t, so they’re supposed to appropriately invest in a resilient infrastructure.”

And in a crisis situation like the one that nearly occurred in 2022, distributed generation could be a literal lifesaver.

“Our grid stability is a major vulnerability,” Dovere said. “If your power goes out and your grandmother’s on an oxygen machine, I don’t think you care about the [internal rate of return] of the [power] system.”

Dovere added that the Trump administration is using renewable energy resources as a “punching bag” by phasing out 

 for solar energy. The administration has 

 and nuclear energy, and many Republicans in Congress have pushed for an “

Dovere told Tech Brew that regardless of price, distributed solar is the best way “to service the largest amount of people to provide them at least some modicum of power.”

“Getting rid of solar renewable tax credits makes it more expensive,” Dovere said, but “people need the power.”

Image of rooftop solar panels against a city skyline.

How ‘distributed generation’ could help in the event of a grid collapse

The nation’s grid instability is a huge vulnerability. Distributed generation can help, one stakeholder tells Tech Brew.

Charging your phone in rural Alaska is a bit more expensive than doing so in the contiguous United States—or the Lower 48, as Alaskans call them. Once you plug your charging cable into the wall, the electricity that flows into your phone comes from a diesel generator that runs a microgrid.

Almost all of rural Alaska is powered by microgrids, and not the types of 

 that regularly connect to a larger, centralized electrical grid. These are true islands, and though Alaska itself isn’t one, fuel for the generators must come by air or sea. In the winter, pricey diesel fuel, which can cost more than $15 per gallon, is flown into rural communities; in the spring and summer, once the ice has thawed, diesel arrives via river barge.

And warmer months bring an excess of sunshine, which many rural communities want to harness to 

 a portion of their high diesel bills. In June, the Department of Energy 

 that it selected 14 municipalities, nonprofits, unions, and businesses to receive shares of its new Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership, or C-MAP, funding. Twelve of the awardees are based in Alaska, and many of them are rural tribes hoping to use the money to update the generators that power their villages to be hybrid—that is, run on diesel 

One of the awardees is Kawerak Inc., a nonprofit corporation that serves the Bering Straits Native Association in western Alaska. The organization received $575,000 to integrate renewable energy—specifically solar energy and battery systems—into microgrids that power the villages of Brevig Mission, Teller, Koyuk, Elim, and Savoonga. Currently, the villages get diesel barged in once or twice a year, or have diesel flown to them in emergencies.

Under the new setup, the renewable power generated by the new systems would be owned by the villages as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) and sold to the local utility, and reduce the amount of diesel they need to use per year. Amanda Toerdal, Kawerak’s community planning and development program director, told Tech Brew the award is “about the administration and structure for how the power is run in the communities” just as much as the power generation itself.

“The ownership of a separate energy system,” Toerdal said, “means that that money is going back into the local community instead of going to a diesel fuel company far away.”

Another awardee is the Kuskokwim Corporation, an organization of 10 villages along the Kuskokwim River. The corporation stewards the land, development, and conservation efforts of the villages, and received nearly $300,000 in C-MAP funding to update a microgrid that serves two of the villages to include a solar power and battery system. The villages, Upper and Lower Kalskag, are the only two communities in the Kuskokwim Corporation that are connected by a road.

Andrea Gusty, CEO of the Kuskokwim Corporation, told Tech Brew that the C-MAP project will offset around 25,000 gallons of diesel every year, thereby bringing down energy costs for residents and making village power more reliable. The new system will be owned by the corporation’s nonprofit arm, TKC Fish Wheel, which will act as the IPP.

An important part of the project is also about workforce development and ensuring that Upper and Lower Kalskag locals are trained to operate and maintain the technology, Gusty said.

“In rural Alaska, there seems to be a history of an influx of funding, or a project is created, but the maintenance of that project is—for whatever reason—outside of the community’s ability to maintain,” Gusty said. “We’re deeply committed to ensuring that we bring that training to the people whose projects are in their backyard. Because they’re the ones who are going to live there…and ultimately the ones benefiting from it.”

The Kuskokwim Corporation’s ethos of building a system the community can maintain is in line with the DOE’s conception of the project. Dan Ton, the DOE program manager of smart grid R&D and lead on the C-MAP funding, told Tech Brew in a statement that the DOE has not made “specific commitments” to provide further funding to awardees, as the program was “built on an understanding‬ that long-term maintenance and operational sustainability must be built into any new‬‭ project.”

According to Ton, the funding is really about getting these innovative, highly customized, and expensive projects off the ground by “improving interoperability and standardization,” as local utilities usually don’t want to take on microgrids because they’re so complex. Insights from the projects will then be shared on a new DOE web portal to be used by future rural microgrid developers to help them “reduce some of the hardships and delays that the early adopters faced.”

And that “role modeling” for future microgrid projects will have the most lasting impact, Brian Hirsch, CEO of Alaska energy engineering company DeerStone Consulting, told Tech Brew. DeerStone is a partner in both the Kawerak and Kuskokwim awards. He said because awardees’ “needs are extreme,” the grants won’t be able to entirely solve many of the issues—or “even come close.” But C-MAP can jump-start momentum.

“The reality oftentimes is you do what you can with the money you’re allocated,” Hirsch said. “There’s still a very long way to go.”

The Teller Power Plant, a diesel power plant in Alaska.

New DOE microgrid fund aims to wean remote Alaskan villages off diesel

Federal funding will allow rural microgrids to be fueled by renewables and bring revenue back to local communities.

TBR: VPP audio embed

California has a problem: It’s producing more renewable energy than it’s able to use. Solar and wind energy production ramp up in the middle of the day, when electricity demand is low. And because that renewable energy doesn’t have anything to power, it gets 

Folks in the solar industry call the dilemma the “duck curve” because of what the difference between energy supply and demand looks like on a chart when renewables are over-contributing to the mix of power—

. And the duck curve is an issue other states will face as they bring more and more renewables online, PG&E Principal Project Manager Trevor Udwin told Tech Brew.

But excess clean energy doesn’t have to go to waste: It can be distributed to consumers and homes via virtual power plants (VPPs). That extra solar and wind energy can be taken from the grid and put into VPPs to be used at a later time or date—through projects like PG&E’s Seasonal Aggregation of Versatile Energy (SAVE) VPP, which Udwin worked to bring to life—which in turn helps stabilize the amount of energy the grid is taking in and pumping out. And that, Udwin said, transforms the duck curve from looking like mountains and valleys to smaller dips and hills.

“It’s not just about shaving the peak; it’s about filling the trough,” Udwin told Tech Brew.

A VPP is a network of batteries that pull energy from the grid at specific times based on signals from utilities or homeowners. More broadly, though, a VPP is any type of load management, so a VPP can also be a network of batteries that store renewable energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines and redistribute it to a network of homes, separate from the grid.

Though a single stationary battery can store energy, one battery alone can’t solve the duck-curve issue. Because so much renewable energy is coming into the grid from different locations at a time when demand for power is low, multiple, connected batteries are needed to soak up the excess energy.

“Different parts of energy transition call for different solutions,” Blake Richetta, the CEO of VPP provider Sonnen Inc., told Tech Brew, “sustainable solutions to handle the intermittency of renewables and the difficulty of electrification.”

 power plants is because they’re a virtual replacement for a power plant: Instead of using an extra power plant, the grid can turn to the virtually networked batteries as a power source. In this way, VPPs replace power plants (and even more importantly, 

) and other general electrical infrastructure, which the US doesn’t have enough of in an era of increasing electricity demand.

Beyond providing flexibility for where extra energy can go, VPPs also help avoid power outages by balancing the frequency of the grid and preventing electrical abnormalities. In addition to helping ensure the excess renewable energy being produced gets used, VPPs can help balance increasing amounts of renewables being added to the grid and more electric-powered products needing to charge from it—electrical loads that are 

“You have…this crazy new erratic load that’s coming out of the electrification of all things—specifically electric vehicles, heat pumps, things like this—that makes the grid even more difficult to manage. You put those things together, there is a wall that we hit,” Richetta said. “When you have a certain amount of renewable energy in the grid and a tremendous increase in load, the grid no longer can manage itself in the way that it has for a really long time.”

That’s why it’s important to use load-shifting products—like VPPs—to “

” the erratic nature of renewable energy with the grid’s needs.

“We’re going through a major energy transition,” Richetta said. “[The way] we can evolve into this kind of renewable, electrified energy system that’s fossil fuel-free is to harness renewable energy and harmonize it with the actual grid’s needs and dispatch it only in a way that serves true value to the grid.”

Correction 07/11/25: This piece has been updated to correct the title of Sonnen Inc. CEO Blake Richetta.

Three green batteries with a solar panel on one, a lightning bolt on the other, and a wind turbine on the third.

How virtual power plants help renewable energy power grid

Tech Brew spoke with battery and utility innovators about how virtual power plants store renewables and put them to good use.

How VPPs help renewable energy power the grid

The Trump administration’s Department of Energy is cutting billions in funding for some green tech maneuvers, and announcing millions for others.

Earlier this week, the DOE announced $8 million specifically for “microgrid innovation” in Alaska, Nevada, and South Dakota as part of the department’s Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership (C-MAP) program. Of the 14 municipalities, nonprofits, unions, and businesses that received shares of that funding, 12 are located in Alaska—where there are already more than 200 

. The funding will support the modernization of power systems to avoid outages and “prioritize local energy supply chains” to lower energy bills, among other things.

“Microgrids in remote Alaska are far too often dependent on flying or barging in diesel fuel, facing outages caused by extreme weather or aging conditions, and overcoming workforce shortages or logistical nightmares,” Erin Whitney, director of the DOE’s Arctic Energy Office, said in a press release. “These C-MAP investments will play an outsized role in propelling these communities forward.”

While it’s unclear if the microgrids that will be supported by the influx of C-MAP funding will run in part or entirely on renewable energy, the department’s release mentions that the program will be working with Renewable Energy Alaska Project and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

And the program seems to be something of a pilot from the DOE: Dan Ton, C-MAP’s lead for the Office of Electricity, said in a release that “microgrids come in many forms, and we have more technologies for generating and managing power than ever before. However, adoption is limited by microgrid system complexity, capital costs, and commissioning times. I believe the United States can lead the world in standardized, modular, and scalable microgrids, but this requires research-backed demonstrations that can be replicated nationwide.”

The announcement comes days after DOE Secretary Chris Wright canceled almost $4 billion in funding for decarbonization and carbon sequestration projects.

“The Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,” Wright said in a statement.

Image conceptualizing a smart city or microgrid.

DOE pledges millions for microgrids in Alaska, South Dakota, and Nevada

The microgrids will be supported by the department’s Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership program.

Extreme weather events pose severe risks to the grid, including but not limited to power outages. Rhizome, a startup that uses AI to enable utilities to better prepare their equipment for future weather events, is encouraging customers to be proactive—rather than reactive—when it comes to climate-proofing their assets.

To further that goal, the company announced today it has secured $6.5 million in seed funding.

Rhizome’s products—gridADAPT, gridFIRM, and gridCAVA—use data on customer equipment and maintenance and historical weather data to help predict how well different equipment investments and maintenance will perform over time. The company’s products also vary in their offerings and price points: While gridADAPT (which helps prioritize resilience investing) and gridFIRM (to mitigate wildfire risk) pull from multiple data sources and can provide to-the-kilometer predictions, gridCAVA uses solely geographic information system, or GIS, data to help smaller utilities perform long-term planning.

“[We] collect as much data as possible on the utility system as well as the geographic environment,” Rhizome co-founder and CEO Mishal Thadani told Tech Brew. “We help measure, what is that resilience benefit? Or what is the risk-reducing effect of a given investment?”

In response to Rhizome’s findings, utilities might make changes to their equipment, like better insulating it from high wind or extreme temperatures, managing vegetation near their assets to avoid wildfire damage, moving lines underground, or putting rural customers more susceptible to power outages on a 

Thadani said the company plans to use the funding to invest “dramatically” in its machine learning platform, continue to expand its customer base through partnerships with utilities outside the US, and work on developing further products. Base10 led Rhizome’s seed funding round, alongside Convective Capital, El Cap, and Streetlife Ventures, among others.

“Traditionally, utilities have not been a very sexy or attractive place to invest in technology companies. But we have seen a recent rise in investors who want to invest in utilities that are tackling grid-related challenges,” Thadani said. “That’s just one thing we were really happy to see out of the fundraise.”

AI-powered grid resilience startup Rhizome pushes proactive approach

The startup, which just raised $6.5 million in seed funding, helps utilities prepare for extreme weather and avoid power outages. 

Pop quiz: What do energy experts and some House Republicans currently have in common? They’re both advocating for an all-of-the-above energy approach to meet the United States’ rising power demand.

 from S&P Global Commodity Insights commissioned by multiple energy entities, including the American Clean Power Association and the American Petroleum Institute, found that to satisfy the “record electricity demand growth over the next decade,” renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy will need to be used, along with resources like batteries. This conclusion echoes that of 

 sent by 21 House Republicans earlier this month underscoring the importance of using nonrenewables and clean energy to respond to energy demand.

Over the next 15 years, the study said, the US’s needs could increase up to 50% as a result of 

 and heating, and “underlying economic growth.” And that demand can be solved by a diverse supply of energy—specifically, more than 900 gigawatts of renewable power and batteries alongside 60 to 100 gigawatts of gas power.

“A diversified portfolio of generation technologies will be needed to ensure planning reserve margins are met and grid reliability is maintained,” the study noted.

And as S&P Global said, “the stakes are high”—which echoes a recent 

 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to increase power to meet demand, regardless of whether it’s from a renewable source. David Shepheard, an energy expert at Baringa, told Tech Brew earlier this month that the FERC’s decision was based on the reality that renewable energy isn’t currently as dispatchable as its alternatives.

“The problem is you can’t get the energy at the time that you need it,” Shepheard said. “What we need is battery and gas-fired generation to back it up, or new nuclear [power] at some point.”

 having a place in the mix, though it said the technology won’t be “at scale until [the] next decade.”

Latest US power demand study advocates for all-of-the-above energy approach

The S&P Global Commodity Insights study was commissioned by multiple renewable and nonrenewable energy organizations.

Patrick Kulp

 a national emergency around the country’s aging and unreliable grid infrastructure. Gecko Robotics is betting that its fleet of wall-climbing robots, drones, and robot dogs might be part of the rescue effort.

The Pittsburgh-based startup just inked a $100 million deal with national power operator North American Energy Services (NAES) that will deploy 

 to help modernize power plants across the country. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also lent his support in a press conference announcing the partnership, which has the option of growing up to $250 million depending on demand.

“To me, it is critically important that we get this done, and that we’re able to take [Gecko’s] idea and grow it into the national leader that is building robots for one of the nation’s largest energy suppliers, NAES,” Shapiro said in the press conference. “And I gotta tell you, this is really incredibly important work right now.”

The deal comes as the country faces a rush of new power demand driven in part by massive growth in 

. But experts say America’s aging power and electrical grid infrastructure is 

“This is a critical moment for energy in America; I truly feel this cannot be overstated,” NAES CEO Mark Dobler said during a press conference. “Coming from someone who’s been in this sector for over 30 years, demand growth in the near future will be unprecedented.”

Gecko’s robots feed data into an AI-powered software platform called Cantilever, which is able to flag health issues within power plants and boost their performance. The startup’s client roster already includes industrial giants like Marathon Petroleum and Siemens Energy. Gecko claims its tech can cut the need for reactive maintenance by 80% and double the lifespan of industrial assets.

“We’ll be powering [NAES] operations platform using Cantilever,” Gecko CEO and co-founder Jake Loosararian told Tech Brew. “They’ll be starting out with a few facilities. We’re trying to keep it nearby—Pennsylvania and the surrounding states as well. But then in the next 12 to 24 months, [we’ll] begin to deploy that to more and more facilities within the NAES portfolio as they expand it.”

The partnership will extend beyond just bringing Gecko’s tech to NAES plants. The two companies say they want to work together to attract new technical hires, investments in grid modernization, and government support.

Attracting top talent to an industry not seen as particularly flashy is a big roadblock, according to Loosararian and Dobler, who cited a stat that a quarter of plant operators are set to retire within the next five to ten years.

“Our industry is not a modern one, but it’s one of the most important,” Dobler said. “An incredible amount of talent and experience [is] leaving the industry. To further compound this issue, ours has historically not been viewed as technology-centric, and therefore we struggle to compete for top talent from…our schools and universities.”

Loosararian characterized his close partnership with Dobler as an unlikely duo in some ways: “Typically, you wouldn’t have a tech CEO and a guy who runs power plants come together.” But that image of the power industry will need to change in order for big grid modernization investments to actually pay off, he said.

“The biggest risk right now is with all these announcements of investments. And you see manufacturing, you know, ‘We’re gonna invest $100 billion here. We’re gonna invest $500 billion there.’...That sounds awesome. But like, look, guys, the people who know how to run these facilities—[around 33%] of them are 55 or above,” Loosararian said. “And for every four employees that leave, one gets hired right now. So it’s not exactly the most exciting industry to go into if you’re a really ambitious, smart engineer coming out of college, and we’re trying to reverse that trend.”

Loosararian said the industry is recognizing some of the looming problems with the power infrastructure, and major investment deals like the one between Gecko and NAES are becoming more commonplace as money is poured into modernization efforts.

“This year has been a year where there’s been a real large shift in these manufacturing and energy sectors, where people are really trying to figure out, ‘How do I solve a really large problem?’” he said. “And so there’s been a large influx of these sorts of deal types coming into Gecko right now. And so now it’s challenging a lot of our growth plans. So we’re looking to hire way more. We’re looking to invest more of the capital from our revenues into specific locations.”