Welcome to Solutions Cast Industry Insights. I’m Alisha Pinto, CFC’s Senior Energy Industry Analyst. Reliability and resilience are often described as two sides of the same coin—but they are not the same thing. Reliability is about keeping the lights on during normal operations. Resilience is the ability of the system to withstand, adapt to, and recover from extreme weather events and other growing pressures on the grid.
Today, I want to focus on how “resilience as a service” is gaining traction as a new operating and investment paradigm—with microgrids serving as a primary delivery mechanism. Resilience as a service reframes power investment from paying for assets to paying for outcomes, measured in uptime, recovery and community continuity.
Instead of one off capital projects, resilience as a service emphasizes measurable results: maintaining service to critical loads, reducing outage duration, and improving system recoverability during major disruptions. And rather than being defined solely by who owns generation or wires, resilience can be delivered through utility led programs, tariffs, or partnerships that provide customers and communities with assured performance when the grid is stressed.
Microgrids can be foundational to this service based approach. By operating independently from the broader grid when needed—and supplying power locally, microgrids allow utilities to target resilience investments where they deliver the greatest value: supporting critical facilities, vulnerable communities, and constrained portions of the distribution system. Advances in battery storage, system controls, and standardized designs have improved cost effectiveness, creating the potential to move microgrids from bespoke engineering projects to scalable, repeatable solutions.
As microgrids mature, several business models are emerging. The economics often depend on who owns and operates the asset—whether it’s the customer, a third party, or the utility.
In utility owned models, microgrids can be deployed to serve customers with high reliability and power quality needs, such as data centers, manufacturing facilities, or large commercial centers. Customers or members sign long term contracts with predictable monthly payments. For community resilience and critical infrastructure, utilities may own and operate microgrids and spread costs across the broader membership, while also monetizing the asset for additional grid services.
While the momentum is real, challenges remain. High up-front capital costs, limited standardization across technologies and software platforms, cybersecurity risks associated with increasingly digital systems, complex third party involvement, and outdated or inconsistent state and local regulatory frameworks can all slow deployment and scalability.
Even so, resilience as a service represents a durable shift in how utilities, and electric cooperatives in particular, might approach reliability, risk management, and member value. As regulators and co op boards increasingly seek to quantify resilience benefits, progress in valuation methods, performance metrics, and tariff design will be critical.
When deployed strategically and operated as part of an integrated service model, microgrids could offer cooperatives a practical pathway to deliver resilience that is scalable, measurable, and aligned with the long term needs of the communities they serve.
That’s all for today. Thank you for joining us for this edition of Solutions Cast: Industry Insights. Be on the lookout for more industry and technology content at nrucfc.coop/Solutions. We’ll talk with you soon!
Today, I want to focus on how “resilience as a service” is gaining traction as a new operating and investment paradigm—with microgrids serving as a primary delivery mechanism. Resilience as a service reframes power investment from paying for assets to paying for outcomes, measured in uptime, recovery and community continuity.
Instead of one off capital projects, resilience as a service emphasizes measurable results: maintaining service to critical loads, reducing outage duration, and improving system recoverability during major disruptions. And rather than being defined solely by who owns generation or wires, resilience can be delivered through utility led programs, tariffs, or partnerships that provide customers and communities with assured performance when the grid is stressed.
Microgrids can be foundational to this service based approach. By operating independently from the broader grid when needed—and supplying power locally, microgrids allow utilities to target resilience investments where they deliver the greatest value: supporting critical facilities, vulnerable communities, and constrained portions of the distribution system. Advances in battery storage, system controls, and standardized designs have improved cost effectiveness, creating the potential to move microgrids from bespoke engineering projects to scalable, repeatable solutions.
As microgrids mature, several business models are emerging. The economics often depend on who owns and operates the asset—whether it’s the customer, a third party, or the utility.
In utility owned models, microgrids can be deployed to serve customers with high reliability and power quality needs, such as data centers, manufacturing facilities, or large commercial centers. Customers or members sign long term contracts with predictable monthly payments. For community resilience and critical infrastructure, utilities may own and operate microgrids and spread costs across the broader membership, while also monetizing the asset for additional grid services.
While the momentum is real, challenges remain. High up-front capital costs, limited standardization across technologies and software platforms, cybersecurity risks associated with increasingly digital systems, complex third party involvement, and outdated or inconsistent state and local regulatory frameworks can all slow deployment and scalability.
Even so, resilience as a service represents a durable shift in how utilities, and electric cooperatives in particular, might approach reliability, risk management, and member value. As regulators and co op boards increasingly seek to quantify resilience benefits, progress in valuation methods, performance metrics, and tariff design will be critical.
When deployed strategically and operated as part of an integrated service model, microgrids could offer cooperatives a practical pathway to deliver resilience that is scalable, measurable, and aligned with the long term needs of the communities they serve.
That’s all for today. Thank you for joining us for this edition of Solutions Cast: Industry Insights. Be on the lookout for more industry and technology content at nrucfc.coop/Solutions. We’ll talk with you soon!
