The Advanced Power and Energy Program co-hosted the first ever Microgrid World Forum March 12 - 14 in Irvine, CA. The conference mainly addressed the demand for microgrids as a strategy for ensuring grid reliability and energy independence -- not only for military applications, but also for campus environments in the commercial, government, health care, education, industrial, and remote sectors. Conference attendees were able to visit UC Irvine and view firsthand the unique UCI Field Laboratory microgrid in a campus environment as well as the Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration project.

As a result of previous and ongoing investments in multiple photovoltaic installations and energy research initiatives, the UCI Field Laboratory provides a unique combination of renewable, distributed energy, and smart demand response resources for the study of photovoltaic deployment and integration into the electric grid. The Field Laboratory also enables the investigation of controlled metrics in the context of the emerging smart grid paradigm.