Communities anywhere within the service area of California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) will now be eligible to apply for support to install renewable-plus-storage microgrids.
Posted By Kimberly Wear@kimberly wear on Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 6:05 PM click to enlarge Humboldt State University RCEA’s Executive Director Matthew Marshall and his daughter Alex celebrate groundbreaking on the RCAM project
Construction is underway on a microgrid at the county’s regional airport in McKinleyville that will boast a number of firsts when it becomes operation later this year, according to a Redwood Coast Energy Authority news release. Not only will the Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid be the first 100 percent renewable grid with multi-customers but it will use a unique collaboration to get out the power and be the first microgrid to participate in the state’s wholesale electricity market, the release states.
100% Renewable Microgrid Takes Off at the Redwood Coast Airport humboldt.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from humboldt.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
S&P Global – April 12
A package of far-reaching reforms to expand the nation’s high-voltage electric transmission system is coming into focus as congressional Democrats begin drafting legislation in line with President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure vision. The suite of policy proposals is largely centered on a new investment tax credit for regionally significant transmission lines and potentially two new grid-focused offices housed within the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The transmission blitz comes amid a wave of recent in-depth reports highlighting the benefits associated with expanding and upgrading the nation’s regionally siloed electric grid to accommodate increasing levels of variable renewable energy penetration.
California regulators have approved a microgrid plan directing $200 million to help communities build networks that can supply power through the state’s extended wildfire-prevention blackouts, a task expected to take years to move from planning to completing its first projects.
But private microgrid developers argue that the plan doesn’t go far enough to allow private investment to bolster resilience for this year’s fire season, or to meet the mandate of a 2018 law calling for tariffs to allow commercial microgrids to flourish.
The microgrid incentive program approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission asks the state’s investor-owned utilities to identify the most cost-effective projects and the most vulnerable communities to be eligible for grants to set up “complex, multi-property microgrids.”