Energy planning has always been complex, but today it feels especially uncertain. Incentives shift, supply chains tighten, utilities face unprecedented demand, and fuel markets swing wildly. For businesses making 20- to 30-year infrastructure decisions, this volatility is more than a headache—it’s a strategic risk.
At PowerStack, we believe the smartest way to turn uncertainty into resilience is through flexible, technology-agnostic microgrid design. That means building systems that perform today while keeping options open for tomorrow, no matter how the rules or the markets change.
Policy and Incentives: Always in Motion
Recent legislation, including the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), has already reshaped the incentive landscape—accelerating the phase-out of solar and wind tax credits while preserving credits for dispatchable technologies like fuel cells and linear generators. Just as the Inflation Reduction Act did before it, OBBB shows how quickly incentives can change. History suggests they’ll continue to shift, sometimes dramatically.
A flexible approach allows owners to adapt their projects to the evolving policy landscape—protecting returns instead of gambling on stability. At the portfolio level, this perspective also ensures that opportunities can be prioritized where they make sense today, while leaving flexibility to capitalize on new incentives and technologies at other sites in the future.
Utility Rates: Rising with Uncertainty
Electric demand is climbing faster than utilities can expand generation and transmission. AI, data centers, and electrification are stretching grid capacity. Utilities are investing billions to catch up, and those investments will be recovered in future rate cases.
For large users, that means higher and less predictable utility bills. Smarter microgrid design includes tools to hedge against volatility—load management, market participation, and hybrid systems that buffer rate risk. Evaluating these strategies across a portfolio highlights where near-term deployments can create immediate value and where longer-term planning is required.
Future-Proofing with Dual-Use Generation
A key part of resilience is investing in assets that can adapt over time. Natural gas engines and turbines available today increasingly support transition fuels like renewable natural gas and hydrogen.
This means businesses can secure affordable, dispatchable baseload generation now, while preserving the ability to align with future sustainability commitments—avoiding stranded assets and locking in resilience that grows with technology.
Hybrid Systems: Hedging Fuel Price Risk
Natural gas prices have swung from record lows to decade highs in just a few years, creating knock-on effects in electricity markets.
Hybrid systems—solar plus battery plus dispatchable generation—help insulate owners from that volatility. Solar and storage lower exposure to fuel spikes, while dispatchable resources ensure reliability when renewables aren’t available. Together, these technologies deliver a balanced, resilient, and cost-stable platform.
The Path from Uncertainty to Resilience
Uncertainty will remain a constant. Policies will change, supply chains will shift, utilities will raise rates, and fuel prices will fluctuate. The question isn’t whether these pressures will arise—it’s whether your energy strategy can withstand them.
At PowerStack, we believe the answer lies in smarter microgrid design: technology-agnostic, portfolio-aware, and built for flexibility. As a trusted partner, we help clients prioritize the right projects today while staying prepared to seize new opportunities tomorrow. That’s how uncertainty becomes resilience—and how your energy infrastructure becomes a competitive advantage.