Backing Up the Grid
Distributed Energy, September/October 2007
By Lyn Corum

The US Department of Energy (DOE), often in partnership with the California Energy Commission, has funded research on microgrids since 2000. The driver behind this activity has been the catastrophic utility-grid collapses experienced in the past decade, the resulting financial impacts on businesses, and the need to provide more reliable, energy-efficient, grid-independent power.

Connecticut May Help Pioneer 'Energy Improvement Districts'
The Bond Buyer, July 23, 2007
By Dakin Campbell

Connecticut looks to be the proving ground for a number of innovative
public power projects that may be financed with municipal bonds.
Under a law passed by the Connecticut General Assembly in early June,
municipalities may now form “energy improvement districts” with the authority to issue state tax-exempt bonds. The debt would pay for the construction and development of a small-scale, locally sited power grid; an auxiliary power source for communities in the event of a natural disaster or blackout.

Economist's energy plan taking off
Connecticut Post, July 15, 2007
By Peter Urban

WASHINGTON — It was a serendipitous meeting at an ice hockey rink that sparked Connecticut native Guy Warner's most recent business venture — Pareto Energy, which is advising Ansonia as it sets up the state's first mini-power network.

Ansonia eyes power grid for municipal, business use
New Haven Register, June 20, 2007
By Elizabeth Benton

ANSONIA — More than a century ago, Ansonia Copper and Brass paid the nation's first electric bill — $50.40. With demand for power overtaxing resources and utility costs skyrocketing, the city is seeking to become an electric pioneer once again. Advertisement Ansonia announced Tuesday it is poised to become the state's first municipality to create an intra-city micro-power grid, a city-wide power generating system. A recently passed state law allows for the creation of Energy Improvement Districts that may independently generate and purchase power. The Board of Aldermen is slated to vote on an ordinance next month establishing the city's district, which is expected to be the first of its kind in the state...

Pareto Energy is pushing lawmakers to authorize the creation of “energy-independence districts” throughout Connecticut, modeled on a “micro-grid” Pareto has proposed in Stamford. The law would allow cities and towns to sanction such districts, which then could issue bonds to buy small power generators to lessen the strain on the electrical grid, reducing the chances of power outages and the disruptions they cause businesses. Pareto Energy's proposal has received the support of the entire Commerce Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly.

The Washington, D.C., company initially hatched the plan with Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, meeting through the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “It's just common sense to plan, fund and deploy new power technologies at or near their point of use rather than depending entirely on out-of-state generating companies and transmission operators,” said Michael Freimuth, Stamford's director of economic development, who testified in support of the bill. “Generation equipment within an energy district is much more efficient than centralized power plants, simply because the heat can be recycled and used for local heating and cooling. Micro-generators can be delivered in much quicker time frames than larger power plants.”

An Act Concerning Connecticut’s Energy Future
February 6, 2007

This bill establishes many energy initiatives, promoting energy efficiency, electric system reliability, renewable energy, and distributed generation (small on-site generators). It modifies the way that electric companies procure power for the standard service and last resort service they provide to customers who do not choose competitive suppliers. It allows electric companies to build, with the approval of the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC), power plants that are used to meet peak demand.

Power to the People
Sustainable Industries Journal, February 2, 2007
by Becky Brun

The country’s aging electric system represents power outages that cost the country an estimated $80 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Concern over reliability and increased demand for electricity led many companies to invest in distributed generation as a means to generate and store back-up power. With 12.3 million distributed generators in use, Resource Dynamics Corp. claims there is market potential for at least 28 gigawatts of new distributed generation, representing almost $13 billion in capital costs.

Pareto is partnering with the United Conference of Mayors to create “energy independence districts” and microgrids in Stamford and other cities prone to power outages. San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE: PCG) is investigating microgrids as one way communities could tap into incentives offered through the California Solar Initiative. Tenants in a microgrid can recover the thermal energy lost during electricity production and capture it to heat or cool buildings. “There’s free fuel out there: the hot air being wasted in central power,” Warner says. “We could grab that air and put it to work.”

U.S. Conference of Mayors: Mayor's 2007 10-Point Plan
Mayor Douglas Palmer, Conference President
January 24, 2007

Community-based grass roots effort is key to a successful national strategy to reduce our energy dependence, decrease carbon emissions, and improve the environment. Provide funding to improve community energy efficiency, community strategies to reduce carbon emissions, energy conservation programs, and alternative / renewable energy sources.

Taking Control of the Power Grid
Cover Story, Energy & Power Management magazine, January 1, 2007
By Guy Warner

In the last 50 years, the U.S. electric power industry has seen few changes in technology and virtually no improvement in delivered efficiency. American high-tech companies have lost faith in its ability to deliver the power needed for digital-age commerce. Almost half of American IT companies identify power outages as likely to have a maximum impact on their businesses. By comparison, just 1% designated terrorism as a concern for IT downtime.

A local community microgrid could be constructed by installing and linking locally operated, cheaper, and cleaner-running generators located at or near their point of use. Such a microgrid could be made economically and environmentally viable, and takes the peak loads of reliability customers off the central grid, thereby improving its performance for all customers.

Avoiding Power Outages by Focusing on the Margin with Microgrids
Electricity Today Magazine, September 2006, pp. 28-34
by Guy Warner

As opposed to the slow, cumbersome, and enironmentally negative central power approach, a microgrid planned and financed by an Energy Improvement District could deliver more reliable and cleaner power in less than one year. Experience with micro-grid systems on U.S. military bases and other residential communities in the United Kingdom has demonstrated that micro-grids can be developed much faster and more economically than central power upgrades.

Energy Improvement Districts Promote Common Sense Ingenuity
Renewable Energy Access, “RE Insider,” April 3, 2006
By Guy Warner

Digital-age companies have been at the mercy of federal and state regulators, transmission system operators and utility companies that view electricity more as a tradable commodity than a service vital for economic development and life-sustaining work.

Companies in a number of U.S. cities that want to control their own energy destiny are taking local control of electric power in an innovative organization called the Energy Improvement District (EID). EIDs use municipal bonds to plan, finance and install microgrids. EID micro grids take advantage of the excess thermal energy from power generation to heat and cool buildings. From about 30 percent energy efficiency at a conventional power plant, micro generation can achieve up to 85 percent efficiency.

Conference of Mayors Platinum Partner Pareto Energy Helps Mayors Conserve Energy, Costs to Cities
By Dana Bykowski
February 6, 2006

Guy Warner, President & CEO of Pareto Energy Ltd, spoke to mayors at the Friday morning Plenary of the 74th annual Winter Meeting. Recognizing the benefits of partnering with the Conference of Mayors, Warner developed the concept of EIDs, which are very similar to Business Improvement Districts. Many high technology companies understand the peril of power outages and seek to locate new headquarters or relocate existing facilities to cities that can provide cleaner, ultra reliable power. The goal of EIDs is to bring together clusters of high technology businesses in cities and provide them with a new generation of power technologies designed for the digital age.