Dive Brief:

• Microgrids and other technologies that make consumers independent of the main transmission system are proliferating as concerns about resiliency linger one year after Superstorm Sandy knocked out power for 8.5 million on the East Coast. "Sandy was a game changer," says Tom Leyden, CEO of Solar Grid Storage, a company that develops battery systems to store solar power.
• The military, states and corporations are investing in generators, fuel cells, solar panel, cogeneration and battery systems to enable them to avoid outages from storms or man-made events. 

Dive Insight: 

Regulators are getting in on the microgrid act. Last month, California became the first state to mandate that certain amount of storage capacity be maintained by investor-owned utilities. At the federal level, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered utilities in July to pay microgrids higher prices for backup power they can provide to the grid. In many states however, current laws and regulations don't mention microgrids, so their legal status can be unclear.