During this summer’s heatwave in the US, multi-tasking microgrids kept the lights on in a small California community surrounded by wildfire, supported the Texas grid during power emergencies, islanded to relieve stress on the California power system and helped an Oregon military facility meet its air conditioning needs when temperatures soared.
In California and Oregon, utilities implemented widespread Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events during which they shut off power in order to prevent their electrical equipment from sparking fires during hot and windy weather. In Oregon, Portland General Electric (PGE) implemented its second PSPS event to date — following a smaller PSPS last year in the Mount Hood area —and it affected more than 37,000 homes and businesses located in over 10 PSPS areas, said PGE.
Reduced use of diesel
Deploying clean energy microgrids not only aided the grid and kept the lights on but also helped reduce the use of polluting stand-alone diesel generators.
During PSPS, utilities and customers have been using stand-alone diesel generators in areas experiencing outages, but utilities are trying to move away from fossil fuels. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the use of backup generators increased by 34% over the last three years in response to PSPS and outages, according to research from the consulting group M. Cubed. The backup generators equate to 15% of the state’s total electric capacity and 90% of them use carbon-intensive diesel fuel.
During the recent PSPS in Oregon, PGE deployed 25-KW stand-alone diesel generators to power mobile community resource centers that provided ice, Wi-Fi water and charging, said Andrea Platt, spokeswoman for PGE. “In the spirit of continual improvement, we’ll explore the options available for moving to emergency support resources that offer cleaner energy options as we plan for next year,” she said.
The mobile resource centers served about 2,500 individuals, families and community members.
In California, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) ran about 40 MW of temporary diesel generation at three substations to support the grid during the week of September 5, said Paul Doherty, company spokesman.
To improve on its PSPS response, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has unveiled a device that makes it easier for homeowners to disconnect personal microgrids from the grid during outages and reconnect them automatically when utility power is available.
Military, home and business microgrids to the rescue
Over the summer — and especially during the heatwave in August — military, residential and commercial microgrids aided utility customers and the grid in California, Texas and Oregon, in many cases responding to calls for utilities for help.
On July 13, during an energy emergency in Texas, microgrids from provider Enchanted Rock produced nearly 2,000 MWh during an Emergency Response Service event called by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The power came from its numerous microgrids. During demand response events, Enchanted Rock produced 32,742,478 MWh of energy over 374.3 hours from June through August, said Allan Schurr, chief commercial officer, Enchanted Rock.
Enchanted Rock operates microgrids that produce more than 556 MW at more than 265 sites, and has more than 250 under construction across the U.S., said Schurr.
“Enchanted Rock customers utilized their dual-purpose microgrids to curtail their reliance on the grid during periods of high demand, helping keep the grid stable while avoiding high demand fees as well as transmission fees,” said Schurr.
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