Dive Brief:
- The International District Energy Association (IDEA) and the Microgrid Resources Coalition (MRC), both advocates for grid edge technologies and policies, announced they will join forces to integrate resources alongside technical and regulatory expertise.
- The two groups said the decision to fold MRC into IDEA was part of a collaborative strategy to "strengthen information exchange and advocacy efforts aimed at improving the technical, regulatory and policy landscape for microgrids."
- IDEA joined MRC as a founding member in 2014. All of MRC's member companies are also IDEA members.
Dive Insight:
Citing a "paradigm shift" in the energy world, IDEA President and CEO Rob Thornton said merging the two advocacy groups would allow them to better leverage organizational expertise.
IDEA members have been operating combined heat & power, district energy microgrids for decades, "long before the term 'microgrid' was even coined," Thornton said. "IDEA and MRC have much in common in terms of membership and mission, and we share an objective to inform energy policy makers and regulators about the myriad benefits microgrids can deliver."
IDEA is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1909, which describes itself as facilitating information exchange among district energy professionals. MRC is a consortium of microgrid owners, operators, developers, suppliers and investors, advocating for microgrids as resources.
IDEA and MRC said the two groups will combine technical, regulatory and policy resources "to educate and engage with federal and state energy regulatory and policy agencies, as well as utility business leaders and local governments."
“The MRC was principally formed to advocate for a level playing field for microgrids in the energy regulatory arena,” said MRC Chair Tom Nyquist. “Drawing from our operational experience, we have been informing regulators and advising policy makers, electric utilities and independent system operators on the range of benefits that microgrids can produce for end-users as well as the local and regional power grid."