Building Scalable Resilience for Texas’ Energy Future
As Texas faces surging electricity demand and an increasingly decentralized energy landscape, microgrids are proving their worth as essential tools for resilience and reliability. Yet despite their success in pilot projects and commercial sites, deploying them at scale remains a challenge.
In our Ask the Experts series, we connect with leaders across the clean energy sector to explore the technologies and strategies shaping the future of power in the Lone Star State.
This week, we spoke with Alok Singhania, Senior Partner at Gridscape Solutions, to discuss how a productized, modular approach to microgrids can overcome the barriers to scaling and unlock the next era of distributed energy in Texas.
For EPCs, installers, and developers, Singhania’s insights reveal practical pathways to streamline project delivery, reduce risk, and accelerate deployment across commercial, industrial, and community-scale sites.
Meet the Expert
Alok Singhania, Senior Partner at Gridscape Solutions
Alok Singhania is a passionate advocate for sustainability, technology, and people. With over two decades of experience at the intersection of innovation and impact, he brings a unique ability to blend strategic vision with hands-on execution. Alok’s expertise spans renewable energy, deep learning, blockchain, IoT, and Saa domains he leverages to build scalable, future-ready solutions.
As a technology leader and entrepreneur, Alok has founded and scaled multiple award-winning ventures, consistently driving growth through creativity, collaboration, and purpose. At Gridscape, he channels his deep technical insight and strategic acumen to accelerate the clean energy transition and empower organizations to achieve resilience and sustainability.
Driven by a belief that technology should create meaningful change, Alok continues to inspire and mentor others in shaping a cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable future.
You Have Questions, We Have Answers
Q: Microgrids have moved from theory to proven value. From your experience, what do you see as the biggest barriers preventing microgrids from being deployed at scale today?
The biggest barriers to scaling microgrids are awareness and process. On the awareness side, many still think of microgrids only as backup systems. In reality, they do far more—giving site owners control of their energy. A microgrid manages generation, storage, and consumption in real time, helping optimize costs, improve efficiency, and provide resilience during outages. They also stabilize the wider grid by balancing renewables. Until this broader awareness builds, adoption will remain slower than it should be.
On the process side, financing, permitting, and interconnection remain major hurdles. Financing isn’t yet stabilized. Permitting is inconsistent—Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) apply different standards, and even within the same agency, requirements may change from case to case. Utilities, too, can shift criteria during reviews, adding both time and cost. Supply chain pressures and tariffs further complicate construction and approvals.
For microgrids to truly scale, we need two shifts: greater awareness of their full value beyond backup, and more standardized, predictable pathways for financing, permitting, and interconnection.
Q: You emphasize the importance of a productized, modular approach. Can you explain how this model differs from traditional project-by-project development, and why it’s a game-changer for cost and speed?
Traditional microgrids are often engineered as one-off projects—bespoke designs, unique approvals, and custom construction. This makes them slow, costly, and difficult to finance.
A productized, modular approach changes that. By standardizing core designs and using repeatable building blocks, every step of the process becomes smoother. Financing becomes easier with repeatable systems and predictable outcomes. Permitting and AHJ reviews move faster when authorities see familiar, pre-approved designs. Interconnection can be standardized as well, reducing uncertainty with utilities. Even construction benefits, since modular components shorten timelines and reduce supply chain risks.
In short, modularity takes microgrids from complex projects to reliable products—cutting cost, speeding deployment, and making true scale possible.
Q: Interconnection and regulatory hurdles are often cited as major sticking points. What strategies or lessons have you learned to help overcome these challenges in real-world deployments?
Use standardized, pre-approved designs to shorten permitting and interconnection review cycles. Treat interconnection as a core project activity from day one, not a final step, to reduce delays and avoid costly rework.
Q: When designing scalable microgrids, how do you balance the need for flexibility to meet diverse customer needs with the push for standardization that makes replication possible?
Balancing flexibility and standardization are key. This comes from combining robust hardware with sophisticated software. Advanced energy management software can optimize usage based on site-specific conditions—for example, shifting charging to overnight when low solar generation is expected, or balancing cost savings with backup needs during peak hours.
Predictive algorithms, machine learning, and real-time data allow the system to deliver customized performance while keeping the core design standardized and repeatable. Gridscape’s Energent system achieves this with a combination of stackable hardware and intelligent software, including full-site energy management, Time of Use (TOU) arbitrage and peak demand reduction, load balancing, aggregation for grid services, and real-time dashboards—enabling rapid deployment, measurable savings, and adaptability for diverse mid-tier C&I sites.
Q: What role do you believe scalable microgrids will play in shaping the future grid, and what needs to happen now to accelerate their adoption?
A resilient, decentralized grid. Scalable microgrids will create a network of reliable local power systems that keep critical loads running during outages. We also need flexible energy management to optimize energy usage, integrate renewables, and provide grid services like demand response and virtual power plant participation. Finally, acceleration enablers; broader adoption requires standardized interconnection, supportive policies and market signals, and scalable financing models that make projects bankable and repeatable.
Get More on Microgrids and Distributed Energy at IESNA Texas
Thank You to Terawatt Sponsor, ELM Microgrid
From the exhibit hall to the conference program, our regional tradeshow and conference offers installers, developers, and EPCs in-person opportunities to explore the future of microgrid deployment and distributed energy innovation.
Terawatt—and Keynote—Sponsor, ELM Microgrid, will not only be exhibiting at Booth #303 but will also help set the stage for our keynote, “Power, Policy, and the Path Forward: Texas Energy Legislation in a National Context,” presented on Tuesday, November 18. IESNA Texas attendees are also invited to tour ELM Microgrid’s Southern Headquarters on November 19 (after the event closes) to explore their latest technology and real-world applications in distributed energy. Learn more here.
These IESNA Texas’ conference sessions will dive deeper into the design, financing, and deployment of scalable microgrids:
- Introduction to Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) and Smart Homes: In this workshop, explore how Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are transforming Texas’ energy landscape by aggregating distributed energy resources into coordinated, grid-responsive networks.
- Resilience Through DERs: Powering Texas with Distributed Energy: Learn how distributed energy resources (DERs), advanced DERs, and microgrids are strengthening Texas’ independent grid by enhancing resilience, supporting flexibility, and expanding access to clean power.
- Data Center Demands: Managing Load Growth and Grid Integration: In this session, hear how utilities and developers are managing Texas’ explosive AI-driven load growth by addressing interconnection challenges and advancing smarter tools for a more reliable, flexible grid.
- Solar+Storage+Generator: What Texas’ New $1.8 Billion Resiliency Program Means for You: Get an early look at Texas’ $1.8 billion Backup Power Package Program and learn how its solar, storage, and generator-based requirements could reshape on-site energy and drive new opportunities for developers.
Register for IESNA Texas
Don’t miss your chance to explore microgrids and distributed energy innovation in person. Click here to reserve your spot today with a special discount: 20% off conference program and/or free exhibit hall access!