Coachella, California, is perhaps best known for the annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival, but soon it will also be home to a powerful new microgrid. Gridscape Solutions has awarded Industria Power a new microgrid construction contract for a Coachella-based business.
This new solar plus storage microgrid will be built for Imperial Western Products (IWP), a food processing company founded in Coachella in 1966. The microgrid will include 846 kW of rooftop solar and solar canopies, as well as a 2.6-MWh battery energy storage system.
Cost savings, resilience and sustainability
IWP is partially funding the project with a grant from the California Energy Commission’s Advanced Emergency Microgrid program. The microgrid will be used to reduce the company’s electric utility costs and its greenhouse gas emissions.
The microgrid’s solar carports and lithium iron phosphate batteries will also provide backup power during grid outages. The system will power the entire site while in island mode.
"In addition to the cost savings and improved resiliency, our employees are very happy with the additional shading created by the solar carports,” said Joseph Boyd, Industria Power’s director of engineering West.
Gridscape and Industria Power continue their partnership
Gridscape continues to be busy developing microgrids in Southern California.
"Industria Power and Gridscape Solutions continue to work together to develop and construct more than 18 complex solar microgrids at multiple locations throughout California," said Ralph Ciarlanti, CEO and president of Industria Power.
Eight of those microgrids will be built for the city of San Diego to provide emergency power to three of the city’s recreation centers, two fire stations and three police stations.
The microgrids will save the city an estimated $6 million in avoided energy costs over the next 25 years and help it reach its goal of eliminating half of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
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