The power leaves the generating station through big wires, and eventually gets to our homes and offices. That's the old "dumb" grid, and we've been hearing for years how we need a "smart" grid to handle all the renewable energy.
An example is up and running in Humboldt County, powering the regional airport and the Coast Guard station. It's believed to be the first "microgrid" using 100% renewable power in all of California.
The Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly-Humboldt and the Redwood Coast Energy Authority helped make the microgrid a reality.
Peter Lehman from the Schatz Center and Matthew Marshall from RCEA describe the setup.