The agenda and invite list are still taking shape. There is room to influence both.
No one is making the affirmative case for on-site power. We exist to make it.
Think Microgrid is a membership coalition representing the microgrid industry in the policy,
legislative and regulatory discussions taking place in Washington, D.C. and in state capitals
across the country. We were formed in 2021 to address the barriers to microgrids embedded in
legacy regulatory policy.
Our members span the full range of scale, from single homes to hyperscale data centers. What
unites them is not a technology or a market segment. It is a shared problem: microgrids and
on-site resources are widely treated as inferior to, or actively harmful to, the legacy
centralized grid. We exist to challenge that.
What we argue
On-site power, at every scale, does three things the centralized grid cannot do alone.
01
Safety and resilience.
For the grid and for the communities that depend on it.
02
Affordability and energy prosperity.
Private capital builds the infrastructure, avoiding new ratepayer obligations.
03
Flexibility and grid services.
Distributed, dispatchable capacity that strengthens the wider system.
Microgrids are complementary to the centralized grid, uniquely capable on resilience and
flexibility, and intrinsically affordable. That is the case. Someone has to make it.
Our members
The members of Think Microgrid are some of the key players in the microgrid industry working
together to set the framework for microgrid adoption.
Cameron Brooks is the Executive Director of Think Microgrid, a membership coalition that
represents the microgrid industry in critical policy, legislative and regulatory discussions
taking place in Washington, D.C., and at the state level across the country.
Cameron also serves as the President of E9 Insight, a research firm focused on the US utility
industry and the policy landscape surrounding it. E9's clients include a wide range of
technology companies, advocacy coalitions and government agencies, including the Department of
Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.
Cameron founded Tolerable Planet Enterprises, an advisory firm that provides regulatory
engagement and business development services, including a strong focus on developing coalitions
for distributed energy technologies and open markets. He has served in executive roles with
clean energy companies and non-profits, including Opus One Solutions, Tendril, Renewable Choice
Energy and the Clean Energy States Alliance.
He studied Ecologic Design at Yale University and holds an MBA from Cornell. E9 and Cameron are
based in Boulder, Colorado.
Estimates place more than 100GW of behind-the-meter generation as planned or in development
over the next five years, equivalent to roughly a fifth of current U.S. peak load. A
substantial share of new capacity is being built on the customer side of the meter.
Public discussion of that shift has so far been shaped largely by its critics. On-site power is
commonly characterized either as a transitional arrangement pending adequate grid supply, or as
a shadow grid assembled by unregulated firms operating in gaps in existing law. No
organization presently advances a general case for on-site generation as a category. The
practical consequence is a policy environment that treats the development as a risk to be
contained rather than a resource to be integrated.
Purpose
Think Microgrid intends to convene a small group of members and partners in the fall of 2026.
The aim is to bring the companies developing on-site power into sustained discussion with those
working on the policy and market questions the technology raises.
We anticipate two outputs:
01
A shared articulation of how the industry describes itself and its contribution, in terms
that hold up in public and regulatory settings.
02
An assessment of whether more coordinated activity is warranted in 2027, when as many as
36 governorships change hands.
Format
Participants
Roughly 20–30 senior participants
Timing
Fall 2026
Agenda
Developed with the founding hosts
Output
A shared statement or position paper, published with accompanying media engagement
The intention is that participants leave with a document they can cite and to which they have
contributed. The invitation list is developed jointly with the hosts.
Hosting
The Roundtable is funded by its founding hosts, who take an active part in designing and
organizing the meeting, supported by Think Microgrid members and staff. Commitments are already
in hand from within the Think Microgrid membership, and further host positions remain open.