U.S.: Microgrid as the New Favorite of Clean Energy

Santa Rita Prison, located in Alameda County, California, USA, is a large prison in which 4,000 prisoners are detained. The prison has recently installed a distributed power generation system that will house fuel cells, solar panels, wind turbines, and diesel generators. The generated electricity is brought into the microgrid and can independently run large-scale centralized power plants. When storms destroy the conventional grid, the system maintains the Power Supply, which is of great importance for facilities with extremely high safety requirements. It is reported that the system can save about 100,000 U.S. dollars a year for prisons.

The Santa Rita Prison microgrid system is one of the largest and most advanced systems in the United States. It is the latest example of the use of emerging smart grids. Smart grids are cleaner and more reliable than traditional grids, and they are very inexpensive in some parts of the United States. Encorp is responsible for installing the system's management software and equipment. Encorp president Michael Clarke pointed out: "Regardless of whether or not there are subsidies, smart grid revenue will be greater than the investment." Microgrid provides new ways to use solar energy and wind energy. These energy sources are sometimes unavailable, so it is often difficult for power companies to adopt them, but by integrating them with batteries and other energy sources, the stability of conventional power grids can be increased and the peak pressure of power companies can be eased.

The microgrid goes one step further than the emergency backup system and the independent solar panel. It integrates various energy and energy storage equipment through special software and power electronics technology, even when it is cloudy or it is restricted to use diesel engines. Provide 24 hours of uninterrupted power. In the Santa Rita Prison system, Encorp installed large-scale computer-sized networking controllers at every source of electricity, including thousands of battery packs and prisons connected to the microgrid. Integration of power generated by diesel engines, solar cells, etc. also requires specific equipment to adjust the frequency and voltage.

Clarke said that the algorithms developed by Encorp allow the system to make full use of various energy sources. The microgrid of the prison is connected to the regular grid, and when the electricity demand of the power company surges, the microgrid can sell excess power to it. At times, microgrid systems can temporarily reduce prison power consumption, such as air conditioning and lighting, to increase the excess power sold to the conventional grid.

The first users of the microgrid are companies and institutions that can have a huge impact on short-term power outages, such as prisons, hospitals, data centers, and military bases, as well as remote areas that do not have access to conventional power grids. In California and other places, the cost of electricity is high, and the regulations for using backup generators are also very strict. Therefore, it is more economical to use microgrids. Moreover, when the cost of renewable energy and large-scale batteries declines, advanced control tools and power electronics technologies improve the efficiency of microgrids, microgrids will soon be rolled out in more areas.