A US city tries a novel approach to microgrids

As cities around the U.S. ramp up their renewable energy goals, they’re sometimes at odds with the utilities that serve them. Some have tried to break away and form their own utilities. Others are creating community choice aggregators to negotiate clean power supply for residents.

The city of Ann Arbor is trying something different – building microgrid projects to serve local load without the help of the utility.The effort could be costly, contentious, and complicated. But if it works, it could create a whole new model for local clean energy supply.

In this edition: Editor Lisa Martine Jenkins presents a story from the pages of Latitude Media on a microgrid project in Michigan that aims to bypass the local utility.