Microgrid Design Toolkit

Sandia Energy > Programs > Electric Grid > Advanced Microgrids > Microgrid Design Toolkit

Sandia National Laboratories developed the Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT), a decision support software for microgrid designers that is publicly available for download. Intended for use in the early stages of the design process, MDT uses powerful search algorithms to identify and characterize alternative microgrid designs in terms of user-defined inputs and objectives such as cost, performance, and reliability.

Using the MDT, a designer can:

Customize inputs and site-specific considerations, case-by-case
Search effectively through large design spaces for efficient alternatives
Investigate the simultaneous impacts of several design options
Gain a quantitative understanding of the relationships between design objectives and the tradeoffs associated with alternate technologies
Derive defensible, quantitative evidence for design decisions

The MDT and its underlying technologies have been used by several projects and agencies including the Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration and Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) project and DOE’s Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP). It was also used for the backup power system for the City of Hoboken, NJ; the U.S. Marine Corps for Expeditionary Units & Brigades; a backup power system assessment and microgrid design for New Orleans, LA; and many resilience improvements in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Download the Microgrid Design Toolkit

MDT Video Tutorials

The video tutorials below are intended to help users navigate and use the MDT tool. The videos can be used as an alternative to the MDT User’s Manual or as a supplement guide. The videos were ordered to complement the suggested logical progression through an MDT analysis, separated by major steps in the process.