First-of-a-Kind Microgrid in Sonoma, California

By Lisa Cohn, Microgrid Knowledge

A front-of-meter microgrid located at the Sonoma Valley Unified School District has set out to become the first to achieve three goals: help bring more solar online, participate in wholesale markets and charge electric school buses.

“This has never been done successfully,” said Nick Tumilowicz, principal manager, grid integration of distributed energy resources for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

There are no other examples of multi-use applications involving a utility customer, the distribution system operator and the transmission system operator, he said. In this case, the school district and EPRI are working with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

The three year, $2 million research project was funded with $1 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) through its Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), which invests in research that aims to transform the electricity sector to meet energy and climate goals.

An additional $1 million came from...Continue reading on Microgrid Knowledge.