High winds, forest fires and flash floods, in addition to its distance from the transmission line’s source, means the town is subject to frequent power outages.įollowing a particularly bad wildfire in 2007, which took down the transmission line, San Diego Gas & Electric received an $8 m grant from the US Department of Energy to build a demonstration microgrid in the neighbourhood.Ī first of its kind in the area, the Borrego Springs microgrid uses smart grid technology that can respond to environmental and system conditions. The town of Borrego Springs, home to 3,400 people, is located around 90 miles east of San Diego and at the furthest end of a gas and electric transmission line. Borrego Springs demonstration microgrid: California The £1.66m project was largely financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, as well as by national bodies and contributions from the islanders. The largest hydroelectric generator, situated on the north side of the island behind Laig Bay, can produce up to 100kW, while the two smaller hydros on the island’s south side produce 5kW-6kW each. Power is distributed via 11km of underground cable that forms an electricity grid. On average, the island runs on 90%-95% renewable energy, and on overcast or calm days, two 70kW backup generators are used to add power and charge the battery bank. The site includes a 50kW photovoltaic array, three hydroelectric generators, and four 6kW wind turbines. The decentralised system, by contrast, offered 24-hour power to residents for the first time. Prior to the launch, the island’s inhabitants, which number just under 100, relied on diesel generators that were unreliable and expensive, as well as carbon-intensive. In 2008, the Isle of Eigg became the world’s first community to launch an offgrid electric system powered solely by wind, water and solar. The city plans to become a net zero energy metropolis by 2022 and aims to produce 120% of power demand by 2026. If the main grid network fails, the town’s microgrid is able to supply power for several hours, either to the town itself or redirected to public facilities such as hospitals and schools. Higashi Matsushima City Smart Disaster Prevention Eco Town officially opened in June 2016, aided by funding from the Ministry of Environment. A number of offgrid communities have sprung up as a result of the scheme, with Higashi Matsushima being the first. The country’s National Resilience Programme was set up following the 2011 earthquake, intended to design and install backup systems to be used in instances of main network failure. Similar to Brooklyn, the establishment of the Higashi Matsushima microgrid was motivated by fears over natural disasters destabilising the existing energy system. The microgrid control system also allows the energy generated to be redirected to hospitals, shelters and community centres in instances of blackouts. With utility firms taken out of the equation, consumers were able to gain both financial and energy benefits. Such a system differs from the traditional set up that allowed residents with photovoltaic panels to sell surplus energy back to utilities, but which could never make a profit from it, instead simply having money deducted from their bills. Initiated in early 2015, the project is one of the first to use blockchain in an energy transaction, allowing consumers to sell excess energy to their neighbours in a peer-to-peer transaction. One such example is the Brooklyn microgrid, set up by LO3 Energy in collaboration with Siemens. In response, researchers across the country are turning to the more stable alternative of microgrids. Fears over grid stability have begun to pick up in the US over recent years, with natural disasters becoming increasingly common and often resulting in blackouts.
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