When natural disasters strike, like the recent earthquake in Mexico City, buildings are destroyed, people need medical attention, and millions of power outages occur. With the number of earthquakes impacting the country, microgrids can help provide uninterruptible power supply to mission critical functions, ensuring productivity during system-wide power disruptions, and lower overall energy costs by leveraging and maximizing renewable generation resources.  
 
A USA Microgrids blog, an OATI company, provides an in-depth description of how a microgrid can be a great resource to facility owners and to the distribution grid in an era of natural disasters and extreme weather conditions. For instance, during superstorms, a microgrid can keep critical facilities open even in the event of a blackout. It achieves this by using the combined onsite generating resources within a microgrid to maintain a near full-time power supply for critical loads independently from the main grid. Given this capability, the development of microgrids can help keep critical facilities open and provide shelter to people in Mexico during a crisis. Microgrids can also support residential, commercial, and industrial businesses in need of reliable power sources.
 
Microgrid technology is not new. In developing countries it is the only power source for remote areas completely cut-off from the main grid. In developed countries, microgrids are a great resource for business with critical power needs. OATI’s Microgrid Technology Center is a real world example of a microgrid in action. The building runs on a combination of natural gas, solar, wind, electricity storage, and batteries to power the workplace and keep its mission critical data centers resilient and operational 24/7. Even though the OATI microgrid is connected to the grid, it can ‘island’ itself as needed while maintaining full operations and generating 100% of its own electricity.

It is natural disasters like the earthquakes in Mexico and their devastating impacts on the grid that led OATI to launch Microgrids Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary devoted to the development of microgrids, from feasibility studies, to construction, to operation, and maintenance. At the heart of every microgrid is a sophisticated control and management software. The OATI Microgrid Technology Center is controlled by the advanced system called OATI GridMind, a highly scalable microgrid management system that provides automation control, situation awareness, and generation optimization.
 
So how can microgrids help protect Mexico during natural disasters? This Microgrid Knowledge article highlights the places where they are generally used. For Mexico, critical facilities like hospitals, government buildings, and businesses can harness the power of microgrids to keep lifesaving equipment running and supplies in stock. Microgrids are not only energy efficient technology of the future, but technology to keep us safe today.