The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory and U.S. Army Research Laboratories have developed a new interoperable communications standard for controlling microgrid systems called Military Standard Tactical Microgrid System (MIL-STD-TMS). The authors validated the MIL-STD-TMS specification by building a prototypemicrogrid … [Read more...]
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Microgrid Solution Provides Reliability When Off Is Not an Option
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy selected Ameresco to design and install three comprehensive energy conservation projects under an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC), as well as a microgrid solution funded by a grant to demonstrate islanding capabilities which eliminates downtime during a loss of the electric public … [Read more...]
PIDC Increases Resiliency with a New 8 MW Natural-Gas Fired Peaking Plant at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
PIDC, Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation, partnered with Ameresco for a new 8 MW natural-gas fired peaking plant that anchors one of the largest private microgrids in the United States, located at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. The peaking plant is expected to run during the Navy Yard’s peak demand periods and … [Read more...]
Parris Island Microgrid, Deep Energy Retrofit Reduced Utility Energy Demand by 75%
The United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island selected Ameresco in 2015 to deploy combined heat and power (CHP) and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation assets and to integrate them with a battery energy storage system (BESS) and a microgrid control system (MCS) capable of fast load shedding. The Parris Island microgrid is explored in … [Read more...]
Cybersecurity Considerations for Electrical Distribution Systems
Every day, cyber attacks against government and commercial computer networks number in the millions. According to U.S. Cyber Command, Pentagon systems are probed 250,000 times per hour. Similar attacks are becoming more prevalent on other kinds of information-based smart networks as well, such as those that operate buildings and utility systems. … [Read more...]
Microgrid Evolution Fuels Smarter Energy Management
Smarter energy management delivers reliability, efficiency and cost savings. From the time when our alarm goes off in the morning to when we turn the lights off at night, we use electrical power. In terms of magnitude, each person in the U.S. spends around $3,052 on electricity (2012 figures). With a population of about 314 million people at the … [Read more...]
How to Design and Operate a Microgrid
This paper describes how to design and operate a microgrid by examining a microgrid installed for the US Department of Defense at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The microgrid is composed of two natural gas generators, a battery energy storage inverter, renewables, and a static switch. Design considerations for this retrofit application with a high … [Read more...]
Reciprocating Engine Generators and Microgrids: The Last Defense Against a Power Outage
Reciprocating engine generators are becoming increasingly important to help solve three contemporary energy problems. The first problem occurs in developed areas like North America, where electric reliability is crucial as the economy grows ever more Internet-based. The second problem can be found in remote regions of the world, where no … [Read more...]
Microgrid Workshop 2012
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) held the Microgrid Workshop on July 30-31, 2012, at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) facilities in Chicago, Illinois. This workshop was held in response to path-forward discussions at the preceding DOE Microgrid Workshop, held in August 2011, … [Read more...]
