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As energy consumption rose with increased guest capacity with the expansion of new on-site buildings, the founder of the environmental station began exploring ways to create a completely integrated renewable energy microgrid. Learn how a remote location can gain access to a fully integrated microgrid solution that is not only economically rewarding but also achieves renewable integration for reliable and sustainable power.
by Lisa Cohn and Elisa Wood
At the Silvies Ranch outside of Burns, 600 off-grid homes are now under construction. Because it was too expensive to run power from the utility to the ranch, each homeowner will have a microgrid made up of solar panels and energy storage that provide electricity.
The project provides benefits other than saving money. The homes are energy independent, meaning they are unaffected by whatever happens on the utility grid. They will have heat, lighting and air conditioning even if the local utility implements a “public power safety shutoff” like the ones that happened in California last fall when Pacific Gas & Electric shut down distribution lines to avert sparking fires from its electrical equipment. The move cut off power to more than a million customers in California.
That same scenario could happen in Oregon. Pacific Power and other utilities have said they may shut off power in areas of Oregon if the risk of wildfires is high.
Continue reading in the Oregonian.
I was four miles off Ocracoke Island on a sunset sail, viewing the spot where pirate Black Beard made his last stand. I did not expect to hear the word ‘microgrid.’ But there it was, mixed in among the stories of island lore told by first mate Dave aboard the schooner Windfall II.
Dave, a near life-long resident of the North Carolina island, made clear his pride in the island’s microgrid, a demonstration project that he said made the island an energy leader.
When you find the locals bragging to tourists about — of all things — an energy project, it’s a sure sign of a successful education campaign, one other energy providers might want to take a look at. Credit goes to the local electric cooperative, Tideland Electric Membership Corp and the North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives.
Dave knew the value of the project. The microgrid is used, he said, for “peak shaving” on hot summer days, part of the island’s energy efficiency program to keep costs in check.
It also can power the storm-prone island’s village when the underwater power cable from the mainland fails.
Dorian devastates island
When a hurricane approaches Ocracoke, the island evacuates its guests (as many as 7,000 per season) via ferries to the mainland, about 25 miles away. But the thousand or so locals are storm hearty folk and tend to stay behind and “hunker down,” Dave said. The hybrid microgrid provides enough power to keep them comfortable should the main grid go down.
I witnessed the island’s energy efficiency program in action during a hot July afternoon when the ecobee thermostat in our rental notified us of a demand response event.
But fortunately, I was not on the island to witness more recent — and traumatic — weather. On September 6, Hurricane Dorian sent a tidal wave over the beautiful Outer Banks island.
Sadly the tourist-based island is now closed for business and many have lost their livelihoods because of the flooding.
Microgrid offers lessons
The microgrid survived the storm and because of it, the local utility cooperative was able to restore electricity to the island even before the transmission connection to the mainland was back up and running.
Too often the adage ‘follow the carnage’ applies to microgrid development, meaning that only after they’ve experienced a disaster do communities install microgrids. But to its credit, Ocracoke had the wisdom to think ahead. And now others will look to its system for lessons about building microgrids to survive storms.
But right now the island has got a lot of cleanup and rebuilding to do. For those who want to help, the Outer Banks Community Foundation has launched a fundraising campaign.
With luck and hard work, the island will recover to once again become a tourist mecca. When it does, the story of Dorian and the microgrid will likely get added to island legend.
To learn more about the island’s microgrid, see Andrew Burger’s article published today on Microgrid Knowledge.
Lisa Cohn recently completed a whitepaper for Enel X that explores the rise of solar power generation in Califoria — both behind-the-meter and at the utility scale — and how it has disrupted the dynamics of the supply mix supporting California’s electric grid. Utilities are adapting to these new realities with changes to their time-of-use rate schedules, which will have a significant impact on the business case for behind-the-meter solar PV and energy storage systems.
Download the whitepaper here.
By Elisa Wood for the American Public Power Association
As if ransomware, malware, and phishing were not bad enough, electric utilities now need to worry about new cyber threats emerging from drones, artificial intelligence, and a grid made more vulnerable by the internet of things, or IoT.
“It just brings a total other layer of security issues that we are not prepared for as a population,” said Peter Morin, cybersecurity director at auditing and professional services company KPMG.
In solar and wind power development, margins are very tight and leave little room for error, yet a surprising number of people in the solar business community are slow to take up the modeling or quantitative side of project development. Read more in this HeatSpring article written by Real Energy Writer’s Lisa Cohn.
Even if your energy contract isn’t up for renewal, it’s important to start planning. Know what factors you should consider now. Elisa Wood moderates the NRG Energy webinar: 10 Tips for the Right Energy Contract, geared for businesses and institutions that contract for power from competitive suppliers.
Appreciated the opportunity to talk about microgrids with NPR!
When President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, he said he represented “Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto disagreed.
https://microgridknowledge.com/islanded-microgrid-fires/