Powerful storms, deregulation, and tougher environmental standards, have all made the cost of electricity more volatile for consumers in recent years. Now, a small micro-grid project in Athens County would allow homeowners to generate their own power. With $30,000 dollars in backing from a private foundation, Ohio University has launched a project to change the way electricity is provided to several homes in Athens County. Project Director and Ohio University professor Greg Kremer says a solar-powered micro-grid will link a handful of homes. The micro-grid will allow the property owners to generate, store, and distribute their own electricity instead of depending on a large utility like American Electric Power. "Our idea right now is to start with small clusters of homes, probably four to ten homes. It is primarily residential but some of those homes might have a small business with them or some of them are farms so they might have other operations to go with them." says Kremer. Micro-grids are not new, some manufacturers and other large energy users have them. But they can be too expensive for homeowners. Kremer says that's why the Athens project is significant.
"What we're doing with respect to small, community groups, individual homeowners working together collaboratively in a community way," says Kremer. "We think that is kind of a first of its kind in Ohio."
A check with Mark Gundelfinger at American Electric Power supports Kremer's claim. "We have not seen any micro-grids at all. There has not been much inquiry or activity," says Gundelfinger. The Athens micro-grid is still in the planning and design phase. One of the sites being considered for the pilot project is the 100-acre farm on a narrow gravel road eight miles outside of Athens. Twenty-seven year old Randall Gabriel lives there with his family. On this sunny, late morning, Gabriel is converting a rusty, decades old tractor to an electric vehicle. He envisions a 900 square foot array of solar panels on a south-facing slope will eventually provide enough electric for his small farm and three other homes within a half-mile radius. He hopes to recover the cost of his $10,000 investment within seven to ten years. "So after ten years our electricity will, quote, unquote be free. We will no longer have to pay the energy company for our energy," says Gabriel. The micro-grid also means Gabriel and his neighbors can be independent of the regional electric grid maintained by American Electric Power and other large utilities. He contends that residential microgrids are a potential economic threat to large utilities. "Yes they are because basically we are not going to be customers anymore," says Gabriel. And, Gabriel doesn't worry about disconnecting from the regional power grid.
"It makes me feel safe and secure, in that sense. We had that big Derecho a couple of years ago, knocked out power around here for two weeks plus in some areas during the middle of the summer. And that was rough. Lost all your food," says Gabriel."
But, that kind of severe storm is exceptional and American Electric Power spokesman Mark Gundelfinger says reliability of the electric supply is not a customer concern. "The customers aren't looking for other means to improve their service reliability by making this investment," Gundelfinger says. Currently, small residential microgrids pose little threat to big utilities. But, researcher Kremer says that could change as technology improves and micro-grid development costs come down. "You know in the future there's nothing that says for a new subdivision as they were developing it that they could say 'hey here are the benefits of a micro-grid we're going to develop it as a micro-grid from the start," says Kremer. AEP's Gundelfinger says it could be five to ten years before before the utility sees a stronger interest in microgrids. In the meantime, utility executives and renewable energy advocates will track progress of the Athens County micro-grid project.