U.S. Navy Seeks Bids to Integrate Solar into California Microgrid

Sept. 14, 2014
Bids are due September 29 to integrate solar into a wind microgrid at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

The U.S. Navy is seeking a contractor to integrate solar panels into an existing microgrid at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Bids are due September 29.

The microgrid is currently powered by wind turbines; the solar panels must be integrated with the wind system by the contractor.

The Navy is using the microgrid to demonstrate use of renewable energy with hot and cold thermal storage. The project is part of the Energy Systems Technology Evaluation Program, and is intended to demonstrate technologies that can lower Navy energy costs.

The project forms an integral part of the Naval Postgraduate School’s energy curriculum. It is part of a thesis project and also will be used in a planned renewable energy course within the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Interested in microgrids? Check out Energy Efficiency Markets sister site, Microgrid Knowledge.

In addition to supplying and installing the solar panels, the contractor must provide and install a power electronics system to inter-phase with the existing microgrid. The winning bidder also must make required programming changes to the existing microgrid to absorb the installed solar power.

The solar panels must be over-sized, but ensure that the inverter can protect the microgrid if there is no load. The solicitation calls for an inverter with an installed capacity of between 5- kW. The microgrid provides 3-phase, 208V and 1-phase 110 V power.

The system must be delivered within one to two months after the contract is signed.

The Navy seeks a fixed-price bid that is valid for 60 days.

In addition to the September 29 bid due date, other important dates are: September 19 for a required site visit; September 23 for submission of questions; September 25 for responses to questions.

For more information, contact Marci Ward, Naval Postgraduate School, 1 University Circle, Monterey CA 93943; [email protected]; 831-656-2972.

The solicitation is available here.

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About the Author

Kevin Normandeau | Publisher

Kevin is a veteran of the publishing industry having worked for brands like PC World, AOL, Network World, Data Center Knowledge and other business to business sites. He focuses on industry trends in the energy efficiency industry.

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