SHERBURNE – The Village of Sherburne is contemplating the best design of a microgrid system that will allow it to continue providing power for vital operations even during power outages.

The village is one of five community recipients in the state to receive $100,000 in grant funding awarded through the New York Prize Microgrid Competition. The competition is part of the state’s “Reforming the Energy Vision” (REV) plan, which encourages clean, resilient and affordable energy systems.

Microgrids are localized grids that can disconnect from the traditional grid to operate autonomously and help mitigate grid disturbances to strengthen grid resilience. Because they’re able to continue operating while the main grid is down, microgrids can also help mitigate grid disturbances and function as a grid resource for faster system response and recovery.

Money awarded to Sherburne will help the village put together a feasibility study for a locally powered downtown microgrid that would power critical services such as fire and police departments, village hall, the health clinic, and the wastewater treatment facility in the event of a power outage. The village of 1,300 is prone to outages, especially during summertime storms.

If installed, a community microgrid would bring an increased level of resiliency to the village by allowing the community to “island” from the grid, thereby helping to prevent outages. The project would be powered partially through combined heat and power (CHP) and renewable sources.