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What are some reasons for going off-grid and being energy-independent?• Distance from electric grid (cost or inability to connect, easement restrictions)• Reliability (can’t afford frequent power outages or surges) • Electric company refusal (won’t approve or upgrade connection to renewables at your location) • Incompatible with state energy programs (cost, type/size of approved equipment incompatible with your requirements) • Business or personal principles (environmental) Distance from electric gridIn rural and remote areas, the best location for a building may not be close enough to the nearest electric line to make connection financially feasible or practical. Easement guidelines and land restrictions may also make connection to the grid an impractical solution. This is particularly true for farms and other agribusinesses that may not be able to afford the loss of land, or, the lack of control of their lands, where electric lines may need to be placed in order to gain connection.ReliabilitySome operations or homesteads may not be able to afford the consequences of power outages or power surges. Depending on the location, power outages can last for hours or days, given the circumstances of the outage. The reason for the outage, such as storms or aging power facilities, may cause more outages and longer delays before resuming electricity than what can be sustained by the building. As examples, consider a berry farm, like ours. If you are keeping berries frozen, or they need to be processed quickly, the loss of electricity can mean loss of product. A dairy or livestock farm may need the electricity for certain feeding, milking, or incubating operations. Imagine the consequences to a farmer trying to hatch chicks under maintained warmth if the electric supply is disrupted. Any kind of delay from a loss of electricity can jeopardize production and compromise income. For many agricultural businesses, delays lasting more than an hour can have a real impact. The same could be said for non-agricultural operations, such as research stations, data centers and other facilities requiring electricity to operate equipment. Electric surges also pose a real hazard to these kinds of operations. For reliability reasons, an energy-independent operation provides not only a constant source of electricity, but it has several back-up measures available should one energy source encounter failures.Electric company refusal to accept electric feed from renewablesThe current custom when installing renewable energy equipment is to connect to the local electric grid. This is done to feed excess energy production from the on-site equipment to the electric grid in order to receive credits or payments for supplying electricity, while using the electric grid as the “back-up” when the renewable energy equipment isn’t producing enough energy for the building’s needs or when the renewable energy equipment is inoperable. There may be several reasons why a local electric company may not enable such a set-up. In many rural locations, for instance, a reason given to farms is that electric lines are “old” and cannot handle or accept feed from the renewable energy equipment. When the electric company will not make the necessary upgrades to enable this at a particular location, that location can not feed their renewable energy to the grid. Under circumstances such as these, in some states like New York, this disqualifies that location from participating in state or other financial incentive programs that offset the cost of purchasing and using renewable energy equipment.Energy needs/solution is incompatible with state energy programs/incentivesSome states, like New York, have programs that are in place to promote the adaption of energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions, which may include making these solutions more financially feasible through reimbursement, buy-back and other financial incentives. In New York State this agency is called NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research & Development Authority). Other states have departments or state funded agencies that conduct similar programs. Some of these programs have a particular set of requirements that each location has to meet in order to participate in state-funded financial incentives that help offset the cost of using and installing renewable energy equipment. That list of requirements may be narrow and may not match the needs of each location. In New York State, for instance, those wishing to connect their renewable energy solution to the local power grid and participate in financial incentives can only use installers and equipment that are on a list of “approved installers” and “approved equipment.” The most effective renewable energy solution for that location may not be on that list. Therefore, they may decide to operate their on-site energy solution independently of the local electric grid system as there may be no incentive to connect.Business or personal principlesOf course many locations may choose to function independently of the local grid system because of business or personal principles such as environmental concerns. |
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