California plans to offer its next microgrid roadmap workshop Tuesday, April 25 at the US Grant Hotel in San Diego.
The state is developing the roadmap to help commercialize microgrids. The project is being coordinated by the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Independent System Operator.
At the April 25 meeting, the group plans to set a schedule to develop and finalize the roadmap, as well as supply information about support contracts that the energy commission will fund as part of the effort.
The session also will include an update on issues facing microgrids, discussion of a planned survey, and review of possible definitions of ‘microgrid’ for use within the roadmap.
Roadmap participants will break into three subgroups that will discuss in more detail:
- Financial costs and benefits of a microgrid
- Regulatory issues and the opportunities and challenges they bring to a microgrid
- The current state of microgrid technology and the opportunities and challenges technology issues bring to microgrids
The event will be broadcast on WebEx for individuals who cannot make it in person. Details will be available on the California microgrid roadmap website.
A fourth workshop is being planned for late June or early July in Los Angeles, where participants will complete technical details for the microgrid roadmap and identify action needed to draft it.
The group will hold a final 2017 workshop in August or September to review the draft
California has completed similiar roadmaps for energy storage and vehicle grid integration. The state decided to pursue a microgrid roadmap, following discussions with the military, which has been building microgrids for energy security and reliability in the state. California also has funded several demonstration microgrid projects.
Earlier roadmap workshops revealed that microgrid development faces many of the same issues in California as in other states. For example, in California microgrids become electric utilities if they sell to multiple customers and cross a right-of-way or property boundary. This means a level of regulation crushing to entities the size of microgrids.
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