Post on 01-Apr-2022
April 23, 2020 | Peter Lilienthal, Ph.D., CEO, HOMER Energy & Global Microgrid Lead, UL
The Story of Microgrids:A historical perspective
The First Microgrid 1882• Thomas Edison• Pearl St. Station, NYC
Telluride, Co. 1890• First use of AC in the US• First Electric Utility
Niagara Falls 1895
Nineteenth Century
• Economies of scale killed the microgrid
• Output = f(volume) x3
• Cost = f(surface area) x2
• Cost/output x2/3
• Less than linear
• Utilities: natural monopolies
Twentieth Century
• Small is Beautiful • (E.F. Schumacher)
• People-scaled technology
• 6 D’s of the Energy Future
Diseconomies of Scale
ENERGY FUTURE
Distributed Decentralized Diverse Digitalized Decarbonized Democratized
• Crack in the Monopoly Wall• Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act 1978
1980’sCombined
Heat & Power
1990’sVillage Power
2000’sIsland Power
2010’sResilience
1980’sCombined
Heat & Power
2010’sResilience
Modern Microgrids
Xcalac, Mexico 1992• Ownership• Management• Support• Energy efficiency
• Metering
• Local conditions
• Salt environment
Lessons fromEarly Renewable Microgrids
San Juanico, Mexico 1999
Remote fishing & tourism communityof 400 residents
• Mostly successful
• Significant technical losses
• Inverter standby power
Lessons fromEarly Renewable Microgrids
St. Paul, Alaska
• Island in the Bering Sea
• Lead-acid batteries are the weak link• Designed without batteries
• Excess wind is used for heating
• System runs without diesels weeks at a time
Lessons fromEarly Renewable Microgrids
Lessons fromEarly Renewable Microgrids
Wales, Alaska• Remote community on the Bering Strait• A little bit of storage goes a long way• Small high-power battery• Excess wind used for heating and hot water• Operation with all diesels turned off• Remote monitoring is crucial
• Tens of thousand of inhabited islands• Indonesia
• Philippines
• Caribbean
• Pacific
• Greece
• Arctic villages
• 10’s of kWs – 100’s of MWs
Retrofitting Diesel-Powered Utilities
Grid-connected Microgrids
• Hurricane Sandy & the need for resilience• More hurricanes• Wildfires• Ice storms, earthquakes, terrorist & cyber
attacks, coronal mass eruptions• Military• Campuses• Emergency services, critical infrastructure
Microgrids Lead the Way to Our Clean Power Future
Smart, Clean Microgrids
Smart Super Grid
Hybrid Renewable
Power Systems
Major UtilitiesRemote Diesels Backup
Diesels
Island Power Systems
Smaller Systems• Liquid fuels from oil
• High renewable penetrations
Large Utilities• Security obstacles
• Regulatory obstacles
Microgrids in the Post-COVID Future
Local expertise Remote training & monitoring Tools.PoweringHealth.org
DETAILS COMING SOONhttps://microgridconference.com/
8th ANNUAL
100% Virtual—Autumn 2020