Demonstrating a renewable based microgrid for a critical facility at the Blue Lake Rancheria
Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation
Recipient
Arcata, CA
Recipient Location
2nd
Senate District
2nd
Assembly District
$5,000,000
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project was completed in March 2018. The Blue Lake Rancheria renewable microgrid has demonstrated a robust, renewable-based microgrid system that provides costs savings for the facility during normal operation and successfully islanded during a grid outage. As a result of knowledge transfer and outreach activities, the microgrid project received the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 2017 Whole Community Preparedness Award and POWERGRID International's Project of the Year (2018) award for Distributed Energy Resource Integration, marking the first time that a non-utility won the award. The final report is available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/2019publications/CEC-500-2019-011/CEC-500-201….
The Issue
California needs to make better use of locally available renewable energy to increase resiliency and address climate change impacts, such as increased fires, severe storms, and heatwaves. Microgrid demonstrations are needed to show that renewable based microgrids at critical facilities are able to disconnect from the grid and provide islands of stable, independent power using local renewable energy to maintain critical operations during emergencies.
Project Innovation
This project team developed and demonstrated a microgrid at an American Red Cross evacuation center. The microgrid included renewables and energy storage to bolster the resiliency of this critical support facility and the capability of the microgrid to power itself with a high penetration of local renewable resources.
Project Benefits
The project advanced microgrid technology by demonstrating a new microgrid controller and integrating a set of equipment that had not previously been combined in a microgrid setting. The project demonstrated the ability to integrate solar electric power with battery energy storage, conventional generators, and dispatchable demand into a microgrid to support a certified American Red Cross shelter, with an added benefit of relegating the existing fossil fueled generators to a deep backup role where they rarely run. A microgrid control system was successfully implemented using protection relays to provide safe and reliable microgrid operation. It was able to perform automated transitions from grid connected to islanded states in response to the state of the area electric power system.
Affordability
The solar PV array and battery storage system will lower annual energy purchases and also lower average peak demand by using onsite renewable energy resources resulting in a cost savings of approximately $160,000 per year.
Environmental Sustainability
The microgrid reduces power purchased from the electric grid by using onsite renewables and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 158 metric tons CO2 per year compared to fossil fueled generation.
Reliability
The microgrid is capable of supplying electric power indefinitely, even in the event of a utility grid outage increasing the resiliency of the Rancheria. The microgrid controller prevents uncontrolled export of energy to increase
Safety
The microgrid increased the safety of the community by being able to provide electric power to a critical Red Cross emergency response center when the electric grid goes down during a disaster.
Key Project Members
David Carter
Subrecipients
Serraga Energy, LLC at Blue Lake Rancheria
Idaho National Laboratory
GHD, Inc.
Kernen
Robert Colburn Electric Inc
Match Partners
Humboldt State University Foundation, Schatz Energy Research Center
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc.
Tesla, Inc.
Serraga Energy, LLC at Blue Lake Rancheria
GHD, Inc.
