In a first for Washington DC, a microgrid that combines solar and energy storage has been installed in an affordable housing complex. The Maycroft Apartment's $327,000 resiliency center includes a 70.2-kW rooftop solar array combined with a 46-kW/56 kWh battery system that can disconnect from the grid and provide power for up to three days … [Read more...]
A report released late last week for the nation’s capital calls for a new regulated entity known as a microgrid operator, part of the city’s far-reaching effort to modernize its electric grid. The 433-page report came out of a multi-year effort launched in June 2015 by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia. The effort was … [Read more...]
Pepco has filed a $44.2 million proposal with Maryland regulators to build two public purpose microgrids, designed to keep power flowing to essential societal services during a grid outage and bolster utility operations on normal days. The Exelon subsidiary petitioned for approval of the microgrids before the Maryland Public Service … [Read more...]
Electric vehicles are quickly becoming one of the largest flexible loads on the grid in some areas, and the growth parallels the increase in numbers of air conditioners years ago, says a new study from the Smart Electric Power Alliance. However, the popularity of electric vehicles poses problems for utilities, which are finding that time-of-use … [Read more...]
If you want to track electric grid transformation, follow the microgrids. That was one of the lessons quietly underscored by the otherwise noisy regulatory review of the Exelon/Pepco utility merger, according to Rachel Gold, a senior associate at the Rocky Mountain Institute. When the $6.8 billion Exelon/Pepco merger closed last month … [Read more...]
A team led by Burr Energy (doing business as Microgrid Institute) will design, simulate, and test control systems for two suburban Maryland microgrids under a $1.2 million federal grant. The Microgrid Institute team expects to receive the funds over two years beginning in late 2014 for a microgrid in Olney, part of Montgomery County, and Ritchie … [Read more...]
So it turns out that utilities like microgrids, contrary to the notion – almost lore – that they dread them as economic disruptors or technical headaches. In fact, utilities view microgrids as a business opportunity. That was the finding of a recent project that I had the pleasure of working on with the nice folks at Utility Dive, who … [Read more...]
The Puerto Rico IRP offers an opportunity for the island to incorporate modern electricity infrastructure, including microgrid projects that can reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, and efficiently manage its energy resources over the long term.
The electric power grid is undergoing one of the most fundamental changes since its inception over a century ago. And if the aim of a decentralized and digitalized grid is reliability and resilience, the digital tools used to design, test and integrate the components to achieve that end are of utmost importance. Download the new Microgrid Knowledge report, courtesy of Typhoon HIL, to learn more about how new tools and processes like Hardware in the Loop (HIL) testing and Model Based Engineering (MBE) can pave the way to a better microgrid.
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