TCPOWERTEC offers turnkey solar microgrid solutions for off-grid and grid-tied applications. We specialize in project development, system design and engineering, installation, monitoring and reporting, and operation and maintenance for integrated solar, battery, and backup generator systems.

A microgrid is exactly what it sounds like: a compressed version of the larger electrical grid that powers our country. The electrical grid exists to supply our electricity demand, ensuring the two are balanced and connecting electrical supply to electrical demand with the transmission and distribution system. In practice, a microgrid works in the exact same way, just for a smaller geographic area, like a couple of buildings or a local community.

To meet the electricity demands of its users, a microgrid must have a generation source. Given that microgrids are an older concept, the electricity supplied to microgrids has historically been from “behind the meter” fossil fuel generators - gas-powered generators, for example. However, with the falling cost of solar, not to mention the environmental benefits of switching from fossil fuel generation to solar power, many of the microgrids being designed today supply electricity with a combination of solar plus battery storage.

Microgrids can become electrically isolated from the grid in the event of an outage. When the grid goes down due to anything from a severe weather event to a knocked over telephone pole, you need to be disconnected from the grid–or “islanded”–in order to continue to produce and use electricity. As such, one key feature of a microgrid is its ability to continue operating even when the larger grid goes out