Renewable Revolution

The Micro(grid) Solution to the Macro Challenge of Climate Change

Leia Guccione
Consultant

SNIPPET 1:

The Microgrid Solution

Not that long ago, I wrote a piece describing how a microgrid could help you survive a zombie apocalypse; the reality is microgrids can help us both prepare for and prevent the much more realistic threat of climate change. Combatting climate change necessarily involves a critical shift away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy, efficiency, and renewable energy.

Such energy resources are inherently distributed and resilient, which makes them naturally compatible with—and their benefits maximized by—microgrids. Thus with efficiency and renewables as part of a microgrid electricity architecture, you don’t have to choose between mitigation and adaptation. You can have both. You can have your cake and eat it, too.

SNIPPET 2:

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) has partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build the Borrego Springs Microgrid. This vulnerable portion of SDG&E territory lies in the remote northeast corner of their service territory, at the end of a single transmission line, in an area prone to wildfires.

In order to provide better service to this territory while also protecting the greater SDG&E grid, the utility has assembled a microgrid that incorporates distributed solar PV, distributed energy storage, community and utility-scale energy storage, smart controls, an advanced Outage Management System (OMS), and microgrid capabilities. In the event that SDG&E needs to isolate Borrego Springs due to a wildfire or other system threat, the community has a diverse mix of energy assets, which give it the ability to stand on its own.

It is, in many ways, a textbook deployment of a microgrid—integrated with the macro-grid normally, able to self-sufficiently island when necessary, powered by portfolio of distributed and largely renewable energy resources.

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2013_10_02_microgrid_solution_to_macro_challenge_of_climate_change

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US State Breaks Ground on a "Perfect" Solar + Storage Microgrid that Can Provide Resilient Power

Another first for Vermont as the state breaks ground on a project that combines solar and energy storage in a microgrid funded through a unique federal-state-utility-NGO partnership.   


Jennifer Runyon, Chief Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
August 12, 2014
         
Nashua, NH -- Today Green Mountain Power (GMP) broke ground on a solar plus energy storage microgrid in Rutland, Vermont with one expert calling it a "perfect" project. The 2.5-MW solar project is being developed in conjunction with Dynapower and GroSolar and includes 4 MW of battery storage, both lithium ion and lead acid, to integrate the solar generation into the local grid, and to provide resilient power in case of a grid outage.
Interested in microgrids? Sign up for our Microgrid Executive MBA Training Course with author and professor Mahesh Bhave. In this course, you will learn to evaluate project economics of microgrid projects in a variety of markets using case studies, financial models, and templates. Find more information here.

The companies said that this project is one of the first solar-only microgrids in the nation, and the first to provide full back-up to an emergency shelter on the distribution network. “Solar power and battery storage will provide clean reliable power to a school that serves as an emergency shelter, helping a community cope with loss of power in a future disaster,” said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, which manages the Clean Energy States Alliance.

Green Mountain Power has set a goal of making Rutland, VT the solar capital of New England and this project, which is also being developed on a brownfield site thereby revitalizing a depressed area, will help it meet that goal.

“This project is a national model for the future of clean energy – combining solar with energy storage,” said Dr. Imre Gyuk, Energy Storage Program Manager in the DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery. “This project provides resilient power during emergencies while benefitting the grid at other times. The technical innovations will reduce cost and make the project commercially viable…. This is the perfect project! It has social value, technical innovation, and furthers renewable integration for the grid.”

Gyuk, who said he was in "an excellent mood" after the groundbreaking event on Tuesday, continued: "This project has everything and in particular, it has total buy-in [from federal, state, and local government agencies as well as industry and the utility]."

Gyuk said the the cost recovery for this project will come largely through services to the grid. "During non-emergency periods, [the energy storage] is simply there to make the grid smoother," he said. Gyuk is particularly interested in how utilities will value grid resiliency and said that this project will help further that discussion. "Emergency services are more difficult to monitize," he explained.

In terms of the value of energy storage, "frequency regulation has now become a commerially viable business," said Gyuk. This isn't only because it has been demonstrated to work technically but also because FERC realized the value of doing it fast and with clean energy, he said. Gyuk estimates that frequency regulation with energy storage is valued at roughly twice what frequency regulation is when it's done with fossil fuels.  

The energy storage component of this project is co-funded by a federal-state-NGO partnership involving the State of Vermont; the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity; and the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP), a project managed by Clean Energy States Alliance and Sandia National Laboratories.

GMP said that the project puts Vermont in the forefront of the new movement toward microgrids, energy storage, and grid modernization. Solar + storage and microgrid technologies are poised to revolutionize resilient power, bringing clean, locally-generated power to communities all over the world. These systems can keep critical facilities, such as emergency shelters, firehouses and fueling stations, operating when the grid goes down.

There is a great need for such resilient power solutions, as shown by recent disasters like Hurricane Sandy, which affected the entire eastern seaboard and left millions without electrical service. With this project, Vermont takes a giant step toward addressing this need, as well as meeting Vermont’s clean energy and emissions reduction goals.

The $10 million project is expected to be up and running by December 2014.

Editor's note: Want to learn how to design a microgrid? Sign up for RenewableEnergyWorld.com's Microgrid Executive MBA Training Course with author and professor Mahesh Bhave. In this course, you will learn to evaluate project economics of microgrid projects in a variety of markets using case studies, financial models, and templates. Find more information at link below.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/08/us-state-launches-solar-storage-microgrid-that-can-provide-backup-power

My comment:

A. G. Gelbert
August 12, 2014

As a resident of Vermont and GMP customer, I celebrate this prudent, wise, profitable and sustainable course of action. Thank you, GMP, for acting sanely while surrounded by an insane U.S. energy industry.

Perhaps logical thinking will catch on in the rest of the country in general and the utilities in particular. But I'm not holding my breath.

Not discussed in most energy web sites and threads is the FACT that many, many people like myself are QUITE WILLING to accept all kinds of WWII type restrictions on energy use in order to go 100% renewable energy. That is, I am willing to ACCEPT an INSTANT and PERMANENT elimination of grid power for 75% of the day, every day. Also a 2 gallon per day LIMIT on TOTAL gasoline/heating oil/ equivalent cubic feet of natural gas consumption. WE ARE READY TO DO IT NOW!

Just IMAGINE the HUGE drop in national energy use if we ALL did that and anybody who wanted more HAD to get it from renewable energy, not fossil fuels or nuclear power. And NO MORE DIRTY ENERGY SUBSIDIES OF ANY KIND!

But in our idiotic "we cannot slow down the economy for a silly thing like having a viable biosphere" world, these OBVIOUS rapid fixes to get off dirty energy in less than a decade just never get traction.

Obvious and sane behavior needs to become part of the USA again. I hope GMP is showing the way.

AC/DC: In the New Current Wars, Will Edison Win Out After All?
 
Posted February 3, 2015

In the late 1800s, as the United States embarked on a public effort to electrify the country, the “War of Currents” pitted Alternating Current (AC) power against Direct Current (DC) power. On one side was Thomas Edison, an advocate of DC power.  On the other side was George Westinghouse, who had acquired the patents for AC power held by Nikola Tesla. In the end, the capability of AC power to run at high voltage from large central generating stations over long distances with relatively inexpensive transformers to “step down” and “step up” the voltage made AC the victor, setting the industry standard. As the electric power sector modernizes, however, two substantial changes could signal a return to the war of currents.

First, declining costs and increasing options in distributed generation (DG) may offer an opportunity for microgrids and low-voltage transmission close to loads. These are the optimum conditions for the utilization of DC power, which can be more efficient than AC.

Second, improvements in battery technologies are driving down costs for localized energy storage. Batteries, which deliver DC power, offer many advantages to the electric system for supply side management, but also for demand side management. Eliminating spikes in demand could dramatically reduce expensive peak power generation needs.

Combining storage with distributed generation, DC-powered microgrids become a very attractive option for their system efficiency, reliability, resiliency, and ancillary benefits.

The truth is, a surprising amount of today’s electronic devices are already DC. When I plug in my laptop, what goes into the computer itself is DC power – the power cord contains an inverter to change the current from AC at the plug to DC at the device. Every smartphone or other electronic device that charges from a USB cable uses DC power. That little USB plug that you put in the wall – that’s an inverter.

Variable speed motors, which are much more efficient than fixed speed motors, contain DC inverters, because DC offers the flexibility to meet varying speed requirements.   

LED lights are also based on DC technology. The bulb contains a micro-inverter to change from AC to DC power, but at a cost. The conversion leads not only to reduction in efficiency, but also reduction in operable life. LEDs already last longer than incandescents and CFLs, but when they fail, it is the usually inverter that goes, not the bulb itself.

The biggest opportunity comes from the fact that the leading form of distributed generation, solar photovoltaic, creates electricity in DC. Now, solar owners need an inverter to get the power into AC for the grid and our AC-wired homes – again, at a cost. The typical derating of solar from nameplate capacity, from a variety of causes, is 23%, with roughly 8% of the reduction due to DC to AC conversion.   Furthermore, solar systems that feed directly into a DC storage system don’t require net metering, which has come under attack as solar installations have grown.

So, if much of our consumption requires DC power and distributed generation technologies generate DC,why should we lose so much energy by converting the current to AC and then back to DC? What if we turned the system around, inverting only where AC is required instead of DC? From an energy standpoint, that may be the future. 

At the Devil’s Thumb Ranch, an eco-resort in the mountains of Colorado, Schneider Electric teamed up with advanced energy engineering firm PosEn to transform almost 200,000 square feet of buildings from standard AC to a DC microgrid system with lithium-ion battery storage and intelligent controls, along with distributed generation.   

At a new barn and veterinary facility built to use only DC power, the system powers a well pump, motors, lighting, and trough heaters in a harsh environment (it gets down to -40 degrees F).  The power consumption of the facility was originally designed for about 10kW of AC – but that dropped to just 3.2kW utilizing locally generated DC power, sophisticated energy management, and energy storage.

There are other advantages to low voltage DC as well. Take the laptop power cord.  If you were to cut the cord and grab the wires on the AC side of the adapter, you would get a nasty shock. You would also create a fire danger. But on the DC side, cutting the cord would not cause a fire, and the shock would be much less. (Still, don’t try this at home). Wider utilization of low voltage DC would also make electrical work safer and easier. The National Electric Code (NEC), that is the standard across the country requires a licensed electrician to do work involving AC power – but low voltage DC can be done safely by a knowledgeable layperson, reducing construction and remodeling costs.

Or take local distribution lines. Those wires that run from pole to pole are expensive to maintain and are exposed to the risk of falling tree limbs in storms, but the cost of putting them under ground is prohibitive. Low voltage DC lines can be undergrounded for much lower cost – giving the community a highly resilient distribution system without unsightly wires.

With all of these benefits of DC in a changing technology landscape where on-site DC generation and DC-powered devices are both growing in popularity, we could see a return to the current wars – and this time, Edison just may win.

Used under a Creative Commons license.
http://theenergycollective.com/tom-plant/2188861/acdc-new-current-wars-will-edison-win-out-after-all

mining · islands · minigrids · microgrids · solar-diesel-hybrid · wind-diesel-hybrid · energy-storage

The November edition of our “Top 5 Hybrid Energy News” features Tesla, SolarCity, Redavia, Shanta Gold, New Sun Road, Microsoft, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blackadore Caye Resort, Omni Power and Astronergy. In the past month, we have seen interesting microgrid projects on islands, solar for the mining industry and a large-scale commercial PV solution for post-offices in Bangladesh.
 

Top 1
Tesla Powers American Samoan Island With Solar-Storage Microgrid

Tesla and SolarCity have deployed a solar plus storage microgrid on the island of Ta’u located more than 4,000 miles from the U.S. West Coast. Before, the island had suffered power rationing and outages. The microgrid consists of a 1.4 MW PV array and 6 MWh of battery storage from 60 Tesla Powerpacks. Diesel gensets are only used as back-up.

http://www.decentralized-energy.com/articles/2016/11/american-samoan-island-powered-by-solar-storage-microgrid.html

 
Top 2
Redavia to Expand Its Shanta Gold Mine PV Project to 672kW in Tanzania

The expansion project is the second phase of a two-phased process to increase New Luika's use of solar energy. The existing 63kW rental solar power plant built in 2014 will be extended by 609kW. Work on the expansion plant has already begun and will continue into 2017.

https://www.miningreview.com/news/redavia-to-boost-solar-capacity-at-new-luika-gold-mine/

"Shanta Gold's decision to expand Redavia's rental solar farm to more than ten-fold is strong proof that rental solar makes sense for off-grid mines”, comments Erwin Spolders, CEO of Redavia.

 
Top 3
Microsoft Supported Start-up New Sun Road Powers Islands in Southern Uganda

The 50,000 inhabitants of the Ssese Islands in Uganda depend largely on the fishing industry. New Sun Road built solar microgrids that substituted costly diesel energy and provides reliable power supply for the local industry.

http://nextbillion.net/an-opportunity-for-small-businesses-expanding-affordable-internet-access-grant-applications-open-today/

“New Sun Road’s project delivers affordable, clean energy and productive services to rural small businesses, many of them operated by women. We believe their solution will massively scale in the years to come due to their significant investments in leveraging the power of big data, the cloud, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to deliver clean energy and connectivity more efficiently and effectively”, explains Kevin Connolly, Business Development at Microsoft Affordable Access Initiative. Jalel Sager, Director of New Sun Road adds: “Uganda has all the right conditions for a vibrant solar market—lots of off-grid users, plenty of sunshine, and fluency in mobile money. Once its small-power producer regulations become firmer and more evenly enforced, we can expect to see a very quick uptake.”
 
Top 4   
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Island Resort in Belize Will Be Powered By Renewables 

Blackadore Caye Resort off the Atlantic coast of Belize was planned by Denniston International Architects & Planners Ltd. There will be 36 residential estate homes and 36 bookable bungalows spread over the island's 104 acres. Solar panels will be installed to generate as much renewable energy as possible. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-07/leonardo-dicaprio-s-private-island-resort-blackadore-caye-belize 

This could be an interesting reference for renewable energy players. If DiCaprio is ambitious, he could create another flagship example for renewables on islands, like Over Yonder Cay of the Bosarge Family Office, Richard Branson’s Necker Island or Club Med’s Gasfinolhu Island.

 
Top 5
Omni Power equips 8,500 post offices in Bangladesh with solar

The PV installations will provide a reliable off grid power source to post offices in remote regions where power cuts or lack of grid connection are a problem. The Bangladeshi Government will cover the costs, which amount to US$20 million. Many PV plants will reduce diesel consumption. The PV modules will be delivered by Astronergy.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/astronergy-equips-bangladesh-post-offices-with-solar-modules_100026894/#ixzz4S8xisbAY

 

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April 23, 2018

By Jennifer Delony Associate Editor

resilience

Grid operators on the islands of O'ahu and Puerto Rico are working with advanced software providers to help them understand how their transmission and distribution systems function with increasing amounts of distributed energy resources (DER), as they seek a cleaner, more resilient power infrastructure.

Hawaiian Electric Co. on April 18 said it will collaborate with Toronto, Ontario-based Opus One Solutions to integrate and manage increasing levels of customer energy resources on the O'ahu grid.

According to the companies, Opus One’s GridOS Dynamic Hosting Capacity software will help Hawaiian Electric system operators understand the level of DERs that can be accommodated on a feeder line in near real-time to optimize grid assets and DERs, while maintaining reliable service.   

“Opus One Solutions reduces the need for significant infrastructure upgrades by leveraging the value of DERs to the grid, while also accommodating the interest for increased DER penetration,” Joshua Wong, president and CEO of Opus One, said in a statement.

About one-third of O'ahu’s single-family homes already use private rooftop solar.

In Puerto Rico, where full power has not been restored since hurricanes hit the main island in September 2017, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) will get help from software that simulates large-scale DER integration in an effort to modernize its grid.

       
PREPA on April 17 entered into a memorandum of understanding with the New York State Smart Grid Consortium (NYSSGC) and ProsumerGrid, Inc., to assist with Puerto Rico’s long-term grid planning efforts.

“Redesigning and modernizing Puerto Rico’s electric system will go well beyond rebuilding the previously existing grid infrastructure or randomly adding more renewable resources,” Jim Gallagher, executive director of NYSSGC, said. “There are a number of complex and structural issues that must be addressed to support strategic resiliency, economic, and environmental objectives.

Atlanta-based ProsumerGrid said it will use its Distributed System Operator (DSO) Simulation Studio to provide integrated simulation capabilities for the island transmission and distribution system with large amounts of DERs and smart grid subsystems, such as microgrids, aggregators, and consumers who both produce and consume energy.


https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018/04/finding-island-grid-resilience-with-advanced-software-systems.html