Military Energy Security with PV

[jebatty]

A nearby military training camp, Camp Ripley, is partnering with a local utility to install a 2.5MW PV system for $2.5 million. The system will have diesel generator backup. Camp Ripley That's $10/watt, a little pricey, but I suspect also a little more secure than my home system.

I'm aware of the difficulty of having a grid-tied system provide power when the grid is down, and I would like to read how this would be done in a system like that planned for Camp Ripley. Perhaps, the backup is solely diesel generators and no use of solar when the grid is down.

 

[jebatty]

A better link describing the system.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26415107/25-million-camp-ripley-solar-farm-will-be

 

[CombatChris]

2.5MW for 2.5M$ is $1/watt... Just going off your notes. Reading article now.


Well... it's saying 10MW for 25M in the article, so $2.5/watt.

 

[jebatty]

$25 million -- oops.

 

[DBoon]

Hi jebatty, Camp Riley is probably installing a microgrid. If you google that term, there should be a lot of explanations about it. They are designed to work with or without utility intertie/power.

 

[jebatty]

Thanks, DB. Wouldn't a microgrid require backup generators/storage to even out the microgrid supply/demand to the main grid? Without that wouldn't Camp Ripley be just one large solar system, supplying electricity when the sun shines, drawing from the grid when insufficient solar, and supplying the grid when excess? Since a utility is a partner in the Camp Ripley project, and Camp Ripley is a potentially very large solar grid input location, the utility might also might be using Camp Ripley in a more integrated fashion in its total grid supply network, balancing with grid tie wind and/or NG generation capacity. I would be surprised if the diesel backup generator at Camp Ripley is to serve this function. I would think that the diesel backup is truly that, to supply power when the grid goes down in a local or larger scale power disruption.

 

[DBoon]

Hi jebatty, a microgrid works pretty much as you surmised. Within the microgrid, there is some type of backup generator. The microgrid is connected to the utility grid, and if the utility grid goes off or unstable, the backup generator can turn on.