Dive Brief:
- A microgrid planned for a low-income neighborhood in Brooklyn could utilize up to 10 MW, according to a report from Bloomberg Business.
- The Red Hook microgrid recently won a $100,000 feasability grant in the NY Prize competition, and developers are now working to submit a November application in the next $1 million round.
- New York funded three microgrid projects in Brooklyn, and last year Consolidated Edison proposed a demand management program for the borough to delay construction of a $1 billion substation.
Dive Insight:
Is it any surprise that the neighborhood that gave the world artisinal beard oil and, well, Brooklyn Lager, is also at the forefront of utility modernization?
The NY Prize competition funded three microgrids in Brooklyn, and Consolidated Edison's demand management scheme for the area may also include microgrids. Bloomberg Business reports the borough is looking to utilize microgrids to cut the need for larger power plants in distant areas of New York.
“The time for pilots and studies is over,” Richard Kauffman, the state’s chairman for energy and finance, told Bloomberg. “We’re now building the grid of the future today.”
The Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn was hit hard by hurricanes Sandy and Irene, suffering power outages that lasted weeks. Depending on how it is designed, the microgrid — being developed by the group Red Hook NY Rising Community Reconstruction Plan — could supply residents with between 2 MW and 10 MW of power. The grid would utiilize both commercial and residential distributed generation sources, including solar power.
The Clarkson Ave. microgrid project includes combined heat and power strategies to provide hospitals with electricity, while the Brownsville-Van Dyke project would make use of renewable energy, energy storage, and efficiency at critical facilities and multi-family housing units.
Last year Consolidated Edison said it would delay a $1.1 billion substation needed to handle rising electricity demand in Brooklyn and Queens, and would instead turn to a demand management scheme that was expected to use energy efficiency and micrgrids.
