Power Analytics to Operate Microgrids at Calif. Navy Bases

by | Sep 9, 2013

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PA logoElectrical power management products firm Power Analytics Corporation has won a contract to operate a secure cluster of microgrids at three San Diego, Calif.-area naval bases as the Navy aims to reduce its energy consumption and improve the security of its electrical supply.

Under the auspices of the Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), Power Analytics’ Paladin software will monitor, control and optimize the three geographically separated microgrids, providing the military with what the company says is its first comprehensive, real time view of the status of its critical power systems across multiple bases.

Although single microgrids have proven their value in both commercial and military settings, this will be the first centrally managed cluster of multiple cyber-secure military microgrids, the company says.

The ESTCP was established in 1995 to address critical military environmental requirements. The program identifies technologies that are both innovative and cost-effective and funds their demonstration in operational settings at Department of Defense facilities to show their real impact in improving performance, improving security and reducing costs.

In May, the US Army and Lockheed Martin commissioned the first DOD grid-tied microgrid integrating both renewable resources and energy storage at Fort Bliss, Texas.

The Fort Bliss microgrid aims to provide the DoD and other government and commercial organizations with the data to transition microgrid technologies into wider scale use for sites such as defense installations, hospitals, universities, commercial businesses and industrial sites.

The microgrid consists of onsite backup generation, a 120 kW solar array, a 300 kW energy storage system, utility grid interconnection and Lockheed Martin’s Intelligent Microgrid Control System. The energy storage system maintains a steady stream of energy and also stores energy to respond to high periods of energy demand and to produce reliable power.

This project was also funded by the ESTCP.

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