The system in Gaidouromantra, Kythnos is a 1-phase Microgrid composed of the overhead power lines and a communication cable running in parallel. It is electrifying 12 houses in a small valley in Kythnos, an island in the cluster of Cyclades situated in the middle of the Aegean Sea. The grid and safety specifications for the house connections respect the technical solutions of the Public Power Corporation, which is the local electricity utility. The reason for such a decision was taken on grounds that potentially the Microgrid may be connected with the rest of the island grid. The power in each user’s house is limited by a 6 Amp fuse. The settlement is situated about 4 kilometres away from the closest pole of the medium voltage line of the island. A system house of 20 m2 surface area was built in the middle of the settlement in order to house the battery inverters, the battery banks, the diesel genset and its tank, the computer equipment for monitoring and the communication hardware.
Kythnos Island is located in the Aegean Sea, close to Athens. The Kythnos Island Project was funded by the European FP 5 Microgrids program, the objective of which was to test centralized and decentralized control strategies for islanding.
It is a small village scale autonomous microgrid, composed of a 3-phase low-voltage network, solar PV generation, battery storage, and a backup generator. The grid is composed of overhead power lines and a communication cable running in parallel to serve monitoring and control requirements. There are 10 kW of PV at two locations, a nominal 53 kWh battery bank, and a 5 kW diesel genset. A second PV array of about 2 kW connected to an SMA inverter on the roof of the control system buildings provides power for monitoring and communication, backed up by a nearby 32 kWh battery bank. Three SMA inverters connected in a parallel master-slave configuration supply power to the 12 summer-only residences, whose minimal loads are primarily lighting and water pumping. When more power is demanded by customers than the PV systems can directly provide, one or more of the 3.6 kW battery inverters is activated. The battery inverters can operate in isochronous or droop mode. Operating in frequency droop mode permits passing of information to switching load controllers, which limit loads if the battery state of charge is low and also constrains the power output of the PV inverters if the battery bank is full.
Up till now, the local population of Tilos, about 500 islanders, covers its electricity needs through a poor interconnection to the host island of Kos, where a diesel-oil power station is operated. Owed to undersea cable faults, Tilos suffers from quite frequent and in many cases long-lasting black-outs.
What we -as a consortium- together with the people of Tilos aspire, is to make this small and remote island the first global blueprint for smart microgrids facilitating increased participation of renewable energy sources under the optimum exploitation of energy storage assets.
More information regarding Tilos Island can be found at: www.tilos.gr“
The microgrid system, anchored by four 100 kW hybrid CCHP, uniquely able to seamlessly transition between grid tie and island mode operation, powered the entire building including the central boilers, domestic water pumps, elevators and all apartments while most buildings in the lower third of Manhattan were without power, heat, and, in many cases, water. Read More
Cogeneration saves $300,000 / year
Project Lead: Robert Lasseter of University of Wisconsin – Madison
Located on the north shore of Long Island, this community has experienced widespread and extended power outages as a result of extreme weather events, including Hurricanes Sandy and Irene. The proposed microgrid would incorporate a mix of existing and new combined heat and power, solar, and energy storage. It would provide electric and thermal energy to selected critical facilities during both normal operating conditions and during disruptions to the main or local grids, including St. Charles Hospital and Mather Hospital, Mary Haven Center of Hope, Port Jefferson School District, Suffolk County Wastewater Treatment Plan, Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry, the fire station, and village hall.
Microgrid Partners: D&B Engineers and Architects, Burns Engineering, GE Energy Consulting, and Global Common LLC.
A pioneer in clean energy R&D and microgrid deployment, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) continues to refine and upgrade its campus-wide distributed power management platform and infrastructure, which aggregates, distributes and manages end-user demand for electricity from combined heat and power (CHP) co-generation, fuel cell, solar PV and other generation sources.
UCSD has installed a new advanced power microgrid management and control system developed by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), the Pullman, Washington-based company announced February 17. Equipped with adaptive, high-speed islanding detection, load shedding and advanced generation control, the SEL PowerMax platform is expected to enhance the UCSD microgrid’s capacity to mitigate outages and optimize power generation, usage and distribution across 450 building and 45,000 end users on its main campus in La Jolla.
The City of Long Beach was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, which caused estimated damages of $200 million to city facilities and infrastructure and total damages to all of Long Beach likely exceeding $1 billion. Vital services (including utilities, water, and sewage systems) were out of service for several weeks and police, fire, and emergency responder facilities were rendered inoperable without power. The proposed microgrid would include combined heat and power, fuel cell, solar, and energy storage, combined with demand-management technology. Power from the proposed microgrid would be provided to city hall, police/fire headquarters, water/wastewater treatment plants, and affordable housing.
Microgrid Partners: NRG Energy, Inc., City of Long Beach, Long Beach Housing Authority, MTA Long Island Railroad, and PSEG Long Island.
The Village of Greenport is located on the east end of the north fork of Long Island, with a municipal electric utility that serves about 2,000 customers, and has its own oil-fired 6.8 MW power plant. Greenport lost power during Hurricane Irene, had substantial outages after Hurricane Sandy, and has had periodic non-storm related outages. Greenport’s proposed microgrid would include a new liquefied natural gas-fueled generator and a combination of existing and proposed wind, solar, and energy storage resources that would provide power to Eastern Long Island Hospital, a regional wastewater treatment plant, and a fire department station.
Partners: The Village of Greenport and Global Common, LLC, which is supported by GE Energy Consulting, Burns Group, Inc., and D&B Engineers and Architects, Inc.
The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant received significant damage from Hurricane Sandy, requiring the rebuilding of four engines that provided power to the plant through natural gas-powered electric generation. Since the storm, the plant has been powered by rented natural gas generators. The proposed microgrid would combine natural gas generation with a newly-installed biogas-to-power engine, powered by gas created through waste anaerobic digestion, along with combined heat and power technology for greater efficiency. The microgrid would provide power to the treatment plant, East Rockaway Village Hall, two elementary schools, a fire department, a post office, a public library, and a public works facility.
Microgrid Partners: Nassau County, Village of East Rockaway, United Water Long Island, LIPA, National Grid, and PSEG Long Island.
Southampton has suffered significant power outages from storms in the last several years, including being out of power for up to seven days during Hurricane Sandy. The town will explore a mix of power generation sources with emphasis on renewables. For existing power generation infrastructure, existing natural gas supplies at partner locations, such as Southampton Hospital, provide potential for combined heat and power. The proposed microgrid would provide power to the town hall, police station, three fire stations, village hall, library, emergency medical facility, hospital complex, department of public works complex, three school complexes, and a wastewater treatment plant.
Microgrid Partners: Town of Southampton, Village of Southampton, Southampton Hospital, Rogers Memorial Library, the Southampton School District, Suffolk County, and PSEG Long Island.
The ability to reliably incorporate solar PV and energy storage into military energy systems is a critical objective for the United States DOD. Reliance on diesel fuel in remote regions in the world is a weak point in military operations, and the results can be costly and deadly due to the challenge of transporting fuel through hostile regions. Additionally, the us DOD recognizes climate change as a driver of increasing instability, resulting in internal and external pressure to reduce emissions.
Often called the Climate Elephant at climate negotiations, The US Department of Defense (DOD) is the largest consumer of fossil fuels, and the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Diesel can cost up to $400 per gallon by the time it gets to the front line. Transporting fuel in war-zones is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, which is one of many reasons military bases are looking at renewable energy microgrids.
For these reasons, the US military has become one of the key drivers of microgrid growth, as government funding advances mobile power and hybrid microgrid solutions. The investment has already made military microgrid projects more secure and reliable.
Microgrid Media provides expert market analysis and in-depth reporting on military microgrid projects and contractors, please contact sales@microgridmedia.com for more information.
Military Microgrid projects currently being tracked include:
Otis Air National Guard Base, Sandwich, MA, United States
WIND, SOLAR
GROTON SUBMARINE BASE
Naval Submarine Base New London, Crystal Lake Road, Groton, CT, United States
COGENERATION, DIESEL
1500 KW Gas/Diesel Storage 13,000KW
PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD MICROGRID
Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia County, PA, United States
Microgrids play a vital role in global military operations. Military Microgrids can firm up security on domestic bases as well as foreign military bases. According to Peter Asmus of Pike Research, all military bases will become microgrids.
The military loves acronyms, and this is a good one.
THE SMART POWER INFRASTRUCTURE
DEMONSTRATION FOR ENERGY RELIABILITY AND SECURITY
SPIDERS is a coalition of government agencies and national laboratories is working to increase electric power surety by developing new microgrid architectures that can function independently of the bulk electric grid.
SPIDERS VISION:
To create fully independent and secure microgrids that are resilient to power disruption, protected against cyber attack, and reflect more sustainable energy practices, including greater efficiency, less reliance on fossil fuels, and integrating renewable sources of electricity generation.
Fractal Grid
San Diego based CleanSpark has offered a cyber-secure alternative to the SPIDERS microgrid architecture that meets military objectives and is infinitely scalable. The “grid of grids” concept was deployed at Camp Pendleton in California where the project has caught the eye of many military branches. It came out of a need for the base to meet energy security objectives without significant time or R&D investment.
Military Microgrid List to date::
GROTON SUBMARINE BASE, MAXWELL AFB, CAMP PENDLETON, PHILADEPHIA NAVY YARD, FORT SILL, FORT CARSON, PEARL HARBOUR, WEST POINT, FORT DEVENS, CANNON AFB, VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, KIRTLAND AFB MICROGRID, FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, ANDAMAN ISLAND – (INDIAN COAST GUARD MICROGRID), CAMP SMITH, WEST POINT, INDIAN HEAD NWC, FORT BELVOIR DC MICROGRID, CANNON AFB, KIRTLAND AFB, OTIS AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, GROTON SUBMARINE BASE
