Dive Brief:
- Work will begin this summer on a small research-focused microgrid at a Minnesota university that Xcel Energy has funded as part of the utility's Renewable Development Fund, a state-mandated program ratepayers fund and regulators oversee, Midwest Energy News reports.
- The University of St. Thomas School of Engineering says the grid will be able to entirely island itself, will include 50 kW of solar capacity, and is expected to be in full operation in 2018.
- The $2.1 million project also includes biodiesel-powered generators and energy storage, as well as a a wind-turbine emulator that will help the school test how the turbines function.
Dive Insight:
St. Thomas' microgrid project is fairly small, but officials at the school say it will help test a variety of grid edge technologies while eventually providing backup power to the facilities. At least initially, the plan is not to separate from grid-supplied power.
“The center will offer tremendous flexibility and will be among the most comprehensive microgrid testing facilities in the central region of the country,” Greg Mowry, a professor at the St. Thomas School of Engineering, said in a press release issued by the university. The new center will examine fuel cell, biodiesel, solar, wind and battery technologies.
Mowry told Midwest Energy News that the micrgrid is "not a power-the-campus project. ... That is a hopeful next incarnation of the project, but that’s [not] the intent of the initial project. It’s now a research project that looks at controlling microgrids and how they interact with advanced intelligent systems and smart substations.”
Don Weinkauf, professor and dean of the School of Engineering, called the microgrid a "perfect fit" for the school, as it will bring private sector developers into contact with research done at St. Thomas.
“Companies developing and testing components for renewable and alternative energy systems will work directly with our students and faculty from the fields of software, engineering and the sciences," Weinkauf said. "The center also will provide an ideal demonstration facility for St. Thomas engineering students working on their senior-design clinic projects."
