Scaling Up Microgrids With Efficient, User-Friendly Software
Microgrids are all the rage, and they have been for a few years. Who doesn’t like the idea of a little self-sustainable, independent grid that ropes in solar power, wind power, battery energy storage, EV charging stations and perhaps a tad of some other less common electricity solutions? It sounds simple: tie them all together and make sure they’re working intelligently to constantly supply energy to the people and businesses who need it.
Of course, when it comes to turning an idea into action, things can get a lot more complicated than they look on the surface. Microgrids are often more complicated and challenging to implement than they look on paper. Also, if someone builds such a system, it is evident they’d like to get their money back on it and then make a profit. Trying to forecast whether that will happen and how to make it happen is even more complicated.
Michael Stadler and Adib Naslé published an article in the academic journal The Electricity Journal a couple of years ago, “Planning and Implementation of Bankable Microgrids,” laying out the “multiple, complex steps and software tools” that were available for implementing and evaluating microgrid projects at the time. A key conclusion: “Existing techniques treat every Microgrid project as a unique system, resulting in expensive, non-standardized approaches and implementations which cannot be reliably compared. That is, it is not possible to correlate the results from different planning methods performed by different project developers and/or engineering companies.” The industry has been lacking uniform approaches and evaluation systems to plan and optimize microgrid systems efficiently and at scale.
Furthermore, the planning and evaluation systems in place were not set up to be easily understandable and usable by different key players in developing, investing in, financing, or approving microgrids. The authors write, “For this sophisticated engineering task, tools and models are needed that can include GridLAB-D (GridLab-D, 2017) […] or OpenDSS, designed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, 1997–2018). Some of these analyses introduce considerable complexities and need an engineering background, limiting the usability for certain stakeholders such as bankers, investors, or real estate companies. Furthermore, most of the time, the technical design process (cable and transformer sizing) is completely decoupled from the conceptual design (selecting and placing technologies), and no integration exists, obstructing any data flow. This is especially problematic when the technical design reveals issues with the underlying conceptual design, leading to unplanned engineering time and costs.”
What is their solution? A unified software system with integrated design stages and a user-friendly experience that allows anyone from bankers to engineers to plan, visualize, and optimize a project. And that’s what these guys are now offering through XENDEE — “one single platform, allowing multiple views, complexity levels, and details depending on the user class, i.e., engineer versus financier versus construction consultants.” In fact, XENDEE’s software platform recently won the prestigious 2021 Edison Gold Award in Human Critical Infrastructure. Here’s a video overview, but I’ll cover some of the core company highlights below if you’re not keen on watching the full rundown:
XENDEE describes their platform as a “streamlined interface” that “removes traditional technical barriers and enables new users from business, sales, financial and engineering backgrounds to accurately screen Microgrid investment opportunities in minutes.” This speed and efficiency in validating projects can also be a big deal for companies and government organizations looking to scale microgrid projects faster and further.
Image credit: Xendee
An important element — perhaps the key element — here is that funding institutions and engineers/developers can use the XENDEE platform together to optimize both technical and financial goals. “Additionally, our physically-based economic decision support system couples financial optimization with detailed electrical power system analysis to verify resilience and financial viability before the first cable is laid.”
Image credit: Xendee
You don’t have the technicians looking at one thing, the finance people looking at something else, and a person or team in the middle trying to understand both and translate as needed. Using an old cliche, you don’t end up trying to stuff a square block into a circular hole — and ending up with hair on the floor from frustration and failure.
“XENDEE’s immersive user experience and generative design optimization technology considers millions of possibilities and autonomously creates the optimal Microgrid system, investment thesis, and control strategy that best meets your customer’s envisioned benefits and goals in minutes.”
Naturally, this is marketing talk and pretty pictures of an attractive software platform. The proof is in the pudding. Does this work as eloquently explained? Well, you can’t confirm that without trying it out, and we’d recommend scheduling a product demonstration with a member of the XENDEE team using this link. If your mouth is starting to water and you’re in this industry, note that XENDEE highlights and summarizes four key stages where its software can be used to optimize time efficiency and cost efficiency: 1) Client Feasibility Study, 2) Custom Tailored Bankability Study, 3) Balance of System Engineering Analysis, 4) Implementation Management.
1. Client Feasibility Study
XENDEE’s immersive user experience and generative design optimization technology considers millions of possibilities. It autonomously creates the optimal Microgrid system, investment thesis, and control strategy that best meets your customer’s envisioned benefits and goals — in minutes.
Image credit: Xendee
2. Custom Tailored Bankability Study
Enrich feasibility studies with highly detailed modeling features that capture almost any imaginable scenario. Then let XENDEE’s unique bankability analysis capabilities generate custom-built solutions optimized to your customer’s exact objectives and needs with unmatched accuracy and speed.
Image credit: Xendee
3. Balance of System Engineering Analysis
Accurately determine Balance of System (BOS) costs with XENDEE’s integrated power system one-line diagram, time-series power flow, and transient stability analyses. Easily optimize the size of cables, transformers and other components required to ensure safe and reliable operation.
Image credit: Xendee
Finally, XENDEE’s custom-tailored project management information system delivers a centralized and straightforward cloud-based solution to instantly identify problems and determine project status. Deviations from the plan are highlighted and indicate effects on the overall project delivery timeline.
Image credit: Xendee
One of the greatest things we can do worldwide to facilitate the use of clean energy and reduce carbon emissions is to more quickly and efficiently roll out distributed energy microgrid solutions. I hope to see XENDEE’s platform get into the hands of many more developers, engineers, government officials, and financiers in order to help achieve that. I have not seen a comparably compelling platform in my years of covering this sector — with the caveat being that I also haven’t personally developed or financed a microgrid project, so can only provide this top-level view of this solution and the microgrid world as a whole.
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This article was supported by Xendee.
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Environment
Rivian confirms new purple exterior color called ‘Borealis’ and is exploring interior scents
After nearly a year of speculation online, Rivian has confirmed it will begin offering a new purple exterior color, and we now have the name – Borealis. Inspired by its own community, Rivian’s latest color will be available for a limited time on select variants and arrives as part of a broader design initiative focused on sensory experiences.
Welp, Rivian is actually offering purple EVs.
We had a feeling that this news might be coming at some point, and the confirmation has been nearly a year in the making. Earlier in 2025, some Redditors in the Rivian community started posting images of what appeared to be a purple R1S Quad out in the wild.
We covered the news about 8 months later when fresh images once again emerged of the same truck and the same dealership plates. We could confirm there was at least one purple Rivian, still owned and operated by the American EV automaker, in existence.
What we could not confirm was whether the Grimace-mobile was a one-off or a hint at plans for a new exterior color option. At the time, representatives for Rivian said they could not comment on speculation, but also did not dismiss any indications that a new purple exterior could be in the works.
This morning, Rivian made its presence known at Collins Park during Art Week Miami Beach, where it has set up a multi-sensory exhibition that includes scent, touch, and, of course, the sight of the new Borealis purple exterior. Check it out.
Rivian to offer customers a purple exterior option
During Art Week Miami Beach 2025, which kicked off earlier this week, Rivian has unveiled an exhibition called “Rewilding the Future,” an “immersive exploration of the natural systems” that shape Rivian’s design process.
This multi-sensory exhibit will expose visitors to a range of experiences, including a tactile “touch” where they can create their own objects from recycled and upcycled materials. Rivian also shared that it is exploring scents and has developed one for the exhibit highlighted in The Scent of Terrain. Visitors can first deconstruct the unique scent by smelling the individual top, mid, and base notes in glass flasks before sniffing an oil that combines them all into one sensory experience. Liz Guerrero, Sr. Director of Marketing Experiences at Rivian, elaborated:
Scent is uniquely memorable and we want to get to a place where we have a scent that becomes synonymous with the Rivian brand, sparking that amazing recall that you almost don’t realize you have. This is the next step in the learning process, and we’re excited to see the response.
It is unclear whether there is a specific goal in mind for Rivian’s scent-tric “learning process,” but it could involve brand-specific aromas inside or outside its EVs. Perhaps that new car smell will be “Terrain,” or you will be able to buy some Rivian cologne next holiday season. Rivian has not confirmed any of this, although we did request more information on its plans to integrate scent into design (or not).
Last but not least, Rivian’s Miami exhibit is focused on sight – more specifically, the public debut of its new Borealis purple exterior color. Per Rivian:
This color is a dynamic, deep velvety purple that shifts with the light and captures the essence of the aurora borealis, nature’s most spectacular light show. The inspiration for Borealis came directly from our community. During a 2024 solar event, a group of Rivian owners shot photos of their vehicles glowing under the surreal, purple-washed sky and it captured our design team’s imagination. Borealis pays homage to the spirit of exploration that defines our owners and celebrates the unexpected beauty found in mother nature.
In addition to Borealis, Rivian also debuted a new 20″ All-Terrain Burnished Bronze wheel (pictured above), available exclusively on its new Quad-Motor R1 lineup. As for the purple, Rivian said it is available to customers now on Tri and Quad configurations, but only for a limited time.
The Borealis debut is just one of several color stories being told at the Rivian art exhibit, and those purple EVs will be joined by the automaker’s R1S Quad Miami Edition, which will be on display at Miami Rivian Spaces in Aventura and Brickell beginning today.
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Tesla has received a brutal reality check from Germany this week. The country’s closely watched TÜV Report 2026 has not only ranked the Tesla Model Y as the absolute worst car for reliability in its age group but noted that it has the highest defect rate of any vehicle tested in the last ten years.
It’s a tough look for the world’s best-selling car, though the details paint a more nuanced picture than just “the car is falling apart.”
The TÜV Association (Technischer Überwachungsverein) is the organization responsible for mandatory vehicle safety inspections in Germany. These aren’t just consumer surveys; they are rigorous mechanical exams that every car must pass to remain road-legal.
In its latest “TÜV Report 2026,” which analyzed 9.5 million vehicle inspections, the Tesla Model Y came in dead last among all cars in the 2-to-3-year-old category.
According to the data, 17.3% of Model Ys failed the inspection with “significant” or “dangerous” defects. For context, the average failure rate for this age group is roughly 6.5%. The Model Y didn’t just fail; it failed spectacularly, posting the worst score TÜV has seen in a decade.
The Model 3 didn’t fare much better, landing in the third-to-last spot with a 13.1% failure rate.
So, what is actually breaking?
According to the report, the main culprits are the same ones we’ve been hearing about for years: suspension components and brakes.
TÜV inspectors flagged frequent issues with axle suspension parts, such as the notorious control arm bushings that have plagued Tesla owners for a long time. They also found significant problems with brake discs. Because EVs use regenerative braking for most deceleration, the physical friction brakes rarely get used. In Germany’s wet climate, this leads to rust and corrosion on the discs, causing them to fail safety inspections even if they “work” mechanically.
Lighting defects were also a major contributor to the failure rate.
In stark contrast, other EVs performed exceptionally well. The Mini Cooper SE had a defect rate of just 3.5%, and the Audi Q4 e-tron sat at 4.0%, proving that this isn’t an “electric vehicle problem”—it’s a specific Tesla problem.
Electrek’s Take
We need to separate the signal from the noise here.
First, let’s address the brakes. Failing a safety inspection because of rusty brake discs is a known issue for all EVs, but it seems to hit Tesla harder. If that’s the case, we should look into why that’s happening.
While it’s technically a “defect” in the eyes of TUV as it doesn’t achieve the required safety standards, it doesn’t mean the car is unreliable in the sense that it will leave you stranded. That said, Tesla owners should be careful. I enjoyed one pedal driving more than anyone, but I do make an effort to use my brain regularly. You don’t want to have a problem with them when you actually need them.
The suspension issues are a different story.
We have been reporting on Tesla’s suspension problems for years. They have been NHTSA investigations about it and recalls. It is disappointing to see that even on 2-to-3-year-old Model Ys, these parts are still failing at an alarming rate. When nearly one in five cars is failing its first mandatory inspection, you can’t just wave that away as “FUD.”
The good news is that Tesla’s powertrain is solid and doesn’t contribute much to the poor reliability rate.
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