Alison Silverstein, a Texas-based consultant, and Rob Gramlich and Michael Goggin, former top staff at the American Wind Energy Association, prepared an analysis for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund. The report is meant to expand a debate around how to ensure the power grid is reliable overall and resilient when pipes freeze or a hurricane strikes.

The chase is on among states to become the economic and technology hub of the growing microgrid industry. California and the Northeast states are neck-and-neck. But watch for a spoiler – Alaska.