CleanSpark Achieves Impressive Payback with Home Microgrid; Sets Stage for Expansion

June 5, 2017
CleanSpark has completed a home microgrid with an impressive one-year payback, meeting the company’s expectations for its microgrid controller, which it now plans to use in a series of commercial & industrial (C&I) microgrids.

CleanSpark has completed a home microgrid with an impressive one-year payback and is now turning its attention toward commercial & industrial (C&I) microgrids.

By Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock.com

In an interview last week, Zachary Bradford, CleanSpark president, and founder Michael Firenze described the new project and the company’s plans for expansion.

Located in southern California, the residential microgrid gives CleanSpark some bragging rights.

For one, the microgrid is expected to achieve a quick payback when stacked up against utility rates.

For another, it shows that microgrids can serve typical homes. Home microgrids remain rare, but those that are built tend to be in large, high-end estates or in low-income housing that receives substantial incentives. CleanSpark’s microgrid serves a 2,900 square foot, family-of-four-style home.

“It’s a standard house, single story. Nothing exorbitant. This is a very normal family,” said Firenze.

The house is on well water, so by installing the microgrid, the family achieves both energy and water security.

The quick payback came in part because the house is remote and the homeowners would have paid high charges to connect to San Diego Gas & Electric’s grid. Other, not-so-remote home microgrids installed by CleanSpark, have achieved a payback of four to seven years, according to the company.

The fully off-grid microgrid also gained a “healthy portion” of its one-year payback because CleanSpark’s microgrid controller, working with a Nest thermostat, is programmed to learn occupant behavior and adjust supply decisions accordingly, said Bradford.

For example, if power use in the home typically spikes at 4 p.m., the system observes the pattern, and then may choose another time of day to take on certain tasks, so that the solar panels are free to serve the household during the period of high demand. For example, it may charge batteries or run water pumps earlier in the day when the household uses less electricity.

The microgrid uses 12.4 kW of mounted solar photovoltaics and 20.4 kW of lithium ferrous phosphate energy storage, supplied by SimpliPhi Power, and an 11 kW natural gas emergency backup genset, supplied by Generac.

Together, the energy systems create nested microgrids with triple redundancy. So in addition to achieving an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings, the project also provides exceptionally reliable power, according to CleanSpark.

“As the cost of energy storage continues to come down, we believe the application of microgrid solutions to the residential market will continue to increase, and we are well-positioned with a robust offering to capture a fair share of the opportunities,” said Matthew Schultz, CleanSpark CEO, in a statement released by the company.

Military, REIT microgrids ahead for CleanSpark

But pursuing the home microgrid market is only part of the company’s game plan. Like many microgrid developers, CleanSpark sees a larger play in the C&I microgrid market.

“A big reason we went into the residential space was to prove the merits of the controller in a scalable situation as we are approaching our true focus, which is in the commercial and industrial space, along with the military,” Bradford said.

CleanSpark is now finalizing a contract for a microgrid in a data center at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

The company also is handling design and engineering for a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with a portfolio of about 200 properties nationwide. CleanSpark is designing a solution for the REIT’s entire portfolio, and will pick the top three projects to roll out over the next 12 months. The three projects are expected to range in size from $5 to $19.5 million.

CleanSpark has the right-of-first-refusal to develop the microgrids for the REIT’s entire portfolio. “Over 24 months we hope to roll out between 9 and 12 microgrids for this company,” Bradford said.

Located in San Diego, CleanSpark was acquired last year in a $36 million deal by Stratean, known for its stratified downdraft gasifier.

Track CleanSpark and other microgrid companies by subscribing to the Microgrid Knowledge newsletter. It’s free.

About the Author

Elisa Wood | Editor-in-Chief

Elisa Wood is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and serves as co-host of the publication’s popular conference series. She also co-founded RealEnergyWriters.com, where she continues to lead a team of energy writers who produce content for energy companies and advocacy organizations.

She has been writing about energy for more than two decades and is published widely. Her work can be found in prominent energy business journals as well as mainstream publications. She has been quoted by NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other notable media outlets.

“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.

Twitter: @ElisaWood

LinkedIn: Elisa Wood

Facebook:  Microgrids

In the Race to 100% Renewable Energy, Islands Will Win — With the Right Grid Improvements

March 18, 2024
Looked at individually, islands are often overlooked as unimportant players on the global economic stage. Smaller geographies, smaller communities, fewer resources, and often ...

MGK_SchneiderWPCover_2021-10-13_9-43-09
MGK_SchneiderWPCover_2021-10-13_9-43-09
MGK_SchneiderWPCover_2021-10-13_9-43-09
MGK_SchneiderWPCover_2021-10-13_9-43-09
MGK_SchneiderWPCover_2021-10-13_9-43-09

Linking Clean Energy and Clean Mobility via Resilient Microgrids

Resilient microgrids and energy as a service (EaaS) business models can help to support grid assets by linking renewables, EVs, and advanced software systems to provide real time...