Pike Research forecasts 2010 to 2015 microgrid growth from 100 to 2,000

March 11, 2010 Dave Ohara

One of the biggest changes coming to the power grid are microgrids. Pike Research has a report on microgrids.

More than 2,000 Microgrids to be Deployed by 2015

January 26, 2010

Microgrids, which are “islanded” power generation and distribution zones that can operate autonomously from the larger electrical grid, are an increasing area of focus for institutions, governments, corporations, and utilities. According to a recent report fromPike Research, a variety of trends are converging to create significant growth potential for microgrids, and the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that more than 2,000 sites will be operational worldwide by 2015, up from fewer than 100 in 2010.

“The distinguishing feature of a microgrid is the ability to separate and isolate itself from the utility’s distribution system during brownouts and blackouts,” says managing director Clint Wheelock. “This degree of localized control is compelling for many microgrid proponents during this time of increasing concern over grid reliability.”

Out of the 2,000, one microgrid will be at the Ewing Industrial Park in Columbia, MO, the site where the Open Source Data Center Initiative ideas will be tested.

There is a lot of information in the report which you can buy here.

Key questions addressed:

What is a “microgrid” and what are its key components and features?

Why are inverters the key advance enabling microgrids to develop today despite opposition from many electric utilities?

What are the key market drivers at the policy level – and why does the United States have the best near-term market opportunity?

Why are microgrids inevitable if investments in a smart grid are accompanied by a paradigm shift from central station to distributed generation supply sources?

Who are the big players – and new technology vendors – in the microgrid space, and what is their key role in developing this new energy market?

Who needs this report?

Microgrid Developers

Smart Grid Hardware and Software Providers

Venture Capitalists

Communities, institutions, and corporations interested in building their own microgrid

Distribution Utilities worried about worker safety and market share issues

Policy Makers examining new business models for renewable generation

Even though we could buy a copy of the report. Our first preference is to develop things from scratch with an open source approach, then publish the results. I would assume if we bought a copy of the report, we can't republish anything from it. And, any ideas we come up with potentially could be limited given we bought a research publication.

Which means we most likely will not be buying any other research as it would limit our ability to publish.

400 megawatt smorgasbord meal, 2,500 from nuclear, coal, and hydro plus renewable sources – all you can eat starting at $0.035 kw/hr

March 10, 2010 Dave Ohara

The Ewing Industrial Park in Columbia, MO has a unique power capability few can match. When I first visited the site, they said they had 80 megawatts of power. After seeing all the high voltage power transmission lines, one 345 kv, multiple 161 and 69 kv, they must be able to get more power. I told them go back to all the sources and find out how much they could get with transmission infrastructure. Why isn’t 80 megawatt enough for a data center? Because, if we want to get people to understand the available power infrastructure, we need a bigger number. A week later, they said we can get 400 megawatts.

How can you get 400 megawatts? Here is a summary of the power sources available.

In Summary, Ewing Business Park is within 50 miles of about 2500 MGW of redundant power generation capacity including Thomas Hill Coal(1153MGW), Ameren Fulton Nuclear at reform Missouri( 1159MGW), Ameren Hydro at Bagnell Dam(215 MGW), City of Columbia coal/biomass(39MGW), City of Columbia /Ameren natural gas(140MGW), and Associated natural gas(60MGW). The Ewing Site has numerous redundant feeds and suppliers to this power supply.

Thomas Hill Coal power.

Thomas Hill Energy Center key to providing low-cost energy

Thomas Hill Power Plant

Plant statistics

Unit 1 - 1966 General Electric turbine
Net capacity of 180 MW
Coal burn rate of 2,325 tons/day

Unit 2 - 1969 Westinghouse turbine
Net capacity of 303 MW
Coal burn rate of 3,476 tons/day

Unit 3 - 1982 Westinghouse turbine
Net capacity of 670 MW
Coal burn rate of 8,660 tons/day

The Thomas Hill Energy Center is comprised of three electrical generating units, built from 1966 to 1982 and totaling 1,153 megawatts, and a coal mine that is actively being reclaimed after closing in 1993.

AECI employs about 260 people at the Thomas Hill Energy Center, which has received national recognition for its efficiency and successful conversion to low-sulfur coal that significantly reduced sulfur dioxide emissions.

AECI also will achieve a system wide nitrogen oxides emission rate reduction of nearly 90 percent with completion in December 2008 of its $424 million environmental controls project at Thomas Hill to meet the Clean Air Interstate Rule.

Ameren Callaway Nuclear

Plant Profile

Location

The plant is located 10 miles southeast of Fulton, Missouri, in Callaway County; 25 miles northeast of Jefferson City, Missouri; 40 miles southeast of Columbia, Missouri; 100 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri; and 120 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri.

Plant Design

Standardized Nuclear Unit Power Plant System (SNUPPS), using a Westinghouse four-loop pressurized reactor and a General Electric turbine-generator.

Generating Capacity

1,190 megawatts (net)

Bagnell Dam

Bagnell Dam impounds the Osage River in the U.S. state of Missouri, creating the Lake of the Ozarks. The 148-foot (45 m) tall concrete gravity dam was built by the Union Electric Company (now AmerenUE) for the purpose of hydroelectricpower generation as its Osage Powerplant. It is 2,543 feet (775 m) long, including a 520-foot (160 m) long spillway and a 511-foot (156 m) long power station. The facility with eight generators has a maximum capacity of 215 megawatts.

Here is more information about the site providing the Ewing Industrial Park engineering team.

The background on the availability is actually quite simple. Ewing Business Park is served electric by the city of Columbia Missouri. They are a member of MISO which is the Midwest independent transmission service operator. The city has purchase/supply transmission agreements with Associated Electric and Ameren. The city also generates some of their own power. Currently Ewing Business park is bisected by a 345 kV line, and served by Numerous 161 kV lines, and numerous 69kV lines. Ewing business Park is directly adjacent to a large city owned regional substation called the Bolstad Sub station. The city has indicted that the Bolstad could serve immediate 100 MGW right now to the Ewing Park with their own infrastructure and purchase arrangements up to 200 MGW if planned. There are 4 other regional substations owned by the City and Central Electric ranging from ½ mile to 4 miles. These substations are tapped to ameren feeders in some cases. This Bolstad substation is directly adjacent to a 140 MGW natural gas fired power plant. (1) This power plant is referred to as the Columbia Energy Center or CEC. This power plant is currently operated as peaking plant that can fire up to 90% capacity quickly. The ownership of this plant is the city of Columbia and Ameren energy. The city has taken the recent steps to acquire total remaining ownership of the power plant. The city has a 39 MGW coal/wood biomass fired plant about 5 miles away. (2) . Associated Electric has a large Coal fired power plant just 40 miles away. It is a 1153 MGW coal fired facility. The Bolstad connection to this power plant is a direct 161 kV transmission line with no other taps. This line is 50 % owned by the city of Columbia and 50% by Central Electric (the wholesale transmission provider for associated). Todd Culley with Boone Electric and Ralph Schulte with Central Electric stated that Associated can serve “ 200 MGW without a phone call to the city of Columbia Ewing site ”. They said they could easily provide 400 MGW with some notice. (3)

Let me further explain

In addition to this transmission line directly from Thomas hill, there is another redundant 161 kV line that comes from the Kingdom city Substation 16 miles away which is directly fed by the Thomas Hill 345 kV line that serves that Kingdom City Substation. In addition, to these two large independent transmission line feeders, Thomas Hill has another independent 69 kV transmission line that comes from the power plant that serves the city and Ewing from the large Prathersville substation that is 2 miles away from Ewing. (4) Associated has a natural gas fired power plant Called the Chamois Plant ( 60 MGW) about 40 miles away. It feeds Columbia by way of one 161 kV line and 2 -69 kV lines. All but one of these lines land at the Central/ Columbia Boone Sub on the south side of Columbia. This sub is about 12 miles from Ewing but the interesting thing is that the City has a 161 kV and a 69kV that both run around the east side of town and come to the Bolstad Substation directly from this Main transmission Tap. (5) From the Chamois plant the independent pathway 161 kV hits the Same Boone sub but from an independent pathway from the east.

Ameren UE has the 345 kV line that bisects Ewing. It does not have a substation off of it at Ewing but lands on the west side of Columbia at the Overton Substation about 19 miles away. There are 161 kV and 69 kV lines that then extend to Bolstad that are considered independent feeders. Ameren Would not state their capcity to serve publically from this line but currently they did say they could serve 200 MGW easily from the 345 kV line. (6) Ameren has Bagnell dam hydro electric power plant 50 miles away. It is rated at 215 MGW. The main services form this plant are through Associated’s 69kV line and Ameren’s 161 kV line that also goes to the overton sub.(7) Ameren has a Nuclear Power Plant 30 miles away at Fulton mo. . It is 1159 MGW. Bolstad serves the Fulton area by a direct 69 kV line. (8).

Is Smart Grid opportunity in Residential or Commercial? I voted Commercial, but the popular media topic is Residential

March 9, 2010 Dave Ohara

I’ve watched the industry come up with energy monitoring solutions over the past few years, and I am amazed at how much attention the residential market gets vs. commercial. I determined that the commercial market and data centers being the epitome of the right place for energy efficiency. Which is part of what got me to spend more time in data centers. Data Centers are the early adopters of the ideas, and we’ll get the rest of commercial to follow next like Hospitals.

After sitting in multiple presentations at conferences on energy efficiency and monitoring, I figured out that this was a futile effort to educate the masses. The comparison I’ve used in consumer behavior terms is when you get your monthly bills how much effort do people spend on their credit card & bank bills vs. the utility bill. Think about. How many people spend even a tenth of the time on their utility bill vs. bank/credit card bills?

Why is smart grid in the consumer space popular? It is easy for the media to talk about and relate to, making it a popular topic. There are tons of appliance and electronic vendors who see the money to be made by selling smart grid features. Utilities are viewed as progressive to come up with residential smart meter solutions. Google and Microsoft are throwing efforts in as well. Does this make residential the right one just because it is popular?

CNET news has an article that provides a perspective on the smart grid that supports the opportunity in commercial.

Businesses offer best path to money in smart grid

by Martin LaMonica

BOSTON--For consumers, the face of the smart grid is most likely to be a home energy monitor that gives people insight into home electricity use. But from a business perspective, there may be more action catering to business customers, rather than homeowners.

A panel of smart-grid company executives here at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen East conference on Tuesday said saving commercial, industrial, and business customers is an easier sell than helping consumers save on utility bills.

Images: The many faces of the smart grid

View the full gallery

Home energy monitoring systems and Web applications such as Google PowerMeter let people get details on where home electricity is going. But it's unclear at what point consumers are willing to make changes in their behavior based on that information.

And raises the issue of consumer behavior.

"I think we need to temper our expectations," said Tim Healy, the CEO of energy efficiency company EnerNoc. He noted an "apathy found by consulting company the Shelton Group, which found that consumers would be willing to spend $129 more a month on energy bills before taking actions, such as buying an EnergyStar appliance or scheduling dishwasher or dryer jobs to take advantage of off-peak rates. (Click for PDF of study.)

And, here is a big wake-up call from an Accenture survey.

Consumers Reject Lower Energy Use As The Answer to Reducing Reliance on Fossil Fuels and Energy Imports

Related Assets

March 09, 2010

Consumers call for strong government intervention in energy market

NEW YORK; March 9, 2010 – Three out of four consumers are concerned by energy and climate change issues, but nearly two thirds say that using less energy is not the answer to reducing reliance on fossil fuels or foreign energy supply, according to global research by Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The survey of 9,000 individuals in 22 countries also shows that almost nine out of ten consumers want more government intervention in the energy market.

The survey reveals this interesting consumer behavior.

· When asked why they think reducing reliance on fossil fuels is important, 60 percent of Americans say dependence on foreign oil while 26 percent say climate change and reducing emissions.

· Globally, 49 percent of respondents say lowering emissions is the chief reason to reduce dependence on fossil fuels while 32 percent say dependence on foreign oil.

· In the U.S., extreme concern for climate change declined to 36 percent from 53 percent in the past year.

· U.S. consumers see new forms of energy as a better solution than reducing demand, with 62 percent favoring alternatives and 38 percent favoring curbs on demand.

I am so glad i lowered my expectation in the residential scenario for energy efficiency. Just because I turn off the lights, watch my energy consumption like a lot of you doesn’t mean the rest of the public will change their behavior.

There is no Prius badge people can wear by shaving their electricity use by 10-20%.

Maybe Facebook should have bought a Bloom Box to diffuse Greenpeace’s campaign against a coal powered data center

February 22, 2010 Dave Ohara

Thanks to Matt Stansberry’s reporting on SearchDataCenter, attention was drawn to Facebook’s Prineville Data Center being coal powered.

Tiered energy rates bring higher prices for new customers
By 2012, BPA will charge tiered rates for power. Customers that signed 20-year contracts in 2008 will pay tier-one (i.e., inexpensive) pricing for their current electricity demand. These customers use most of the power produced by the dams.

By 2012, Oregon's Bonneville Power Administration will charge tiered rates for power.

To meet new customer demand or increased demand from existing customers, BPA also purchases power from other sources. In 2012 this electricity will be classified as tier two, and it will be charged at a much higher rate than the BPA's current hydropower.

Which brings us back to Facebook: The company's new data center is being built in Prineville, Ore., a small town on Oregon's high desert. Pacific Power, a utility owned by PacifiCorp, will provide the electricity. While Pacific Power gets some hydropower from BPA, its primary power-generation fuel is coal, according to Jason Carr, the manager of the Prineville office of economic development for Central Oregon.

With the price of hydropower increasing in the Northwest, Facebook opted to bet on the incremental price increases associated with coal rather than face tier-two pricing from BPA.

The news has spread to Greenpeace and Huffington.

Greenpeace, Huffington Post join chorus critical of Facebook's Prineville data center

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian

February 21, 2010, 2:20PM
On Friday, Greenpeace started its own campaign against Facebook's Prineville data center, joining others who want the social networking company to find an alternative to PacifiCorp coal.
The Huffington Post took up the cause Friday night.
Data Center Knowledge has an updated response from Facebook:
It’s true that the local utility for the region we chose, Pacific Power, has an energy mix that is weighted slightly more toward coal than the national average. However, the efficiency we are able to achieve because of the climate of the region and the reduced energy usage that results minimizes our overall carbon footprint. Said differently, if we located the data center most other places, we would need mechanical chillers, use more energy, and be responsible for more overall carbon in the air—even if that location was fueled by more renewable energy.

There is even a Facebook site for this topic with over 6,700 users.

Maybe Facebook should have done as Google and eBay and bought a Bloom Box to demonstrate its interest in renewable energy. Trouble is any moves now will be seen as damage control.

SJMercury discusses the unveiling at eBay on Weds.

Tech journalists have been summoned to the San Jose campus of eBay Wednesday for the official unveiling of the so-called "Bloom Box" at a high-powered event to include Bloom co-founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar, venture capitalist John Doerr, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and "a prominent California government official" widely believed to be Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

and Google is mentioned too.

Search engine giant Google was Bloom's first paying customer; a Bloom Box sits behind one of the buildings on the Mountain View campus and has been powering a large chunk of the building's energy needs since July 2008.

"We have a 400-kilowatt installation on Google's main campus that delivers clean and affordable power," said Google spokesman Jamie Yood. Over the first 18 months of the project, he said, the Bloom Box has functioned 98 percent of the time.

The Bloom Boxes are not at a data center site, but early investment in renewable energy solutions pays off in goodwill to show willingness to take risks.

We’ll see if the Greenpeace effort gains momentum or not, but it would have been harder for Greenpeace to attack Facebook if it could have made statements like Google and eBay.

Safer Natural Gas storage at a data center site

January 13, 2010 Dave Ohara

Natural Gas or methane gas from a landfill is a possibility to provide on site power generation for data centers via fuel cells, but the storage tanks to supply days worth of energy at a site can be a risk. As natural gas is looked for a fuel for cars, safer storage is a priority.

Going through the National Renewable Energy Lab site I found a presentation on the current efforts on Hydrogen storage.

One easy starting point for is University of Missouri, so I drilled into what Professor Peter Pfeifer from the University is doing. And, found this article.

Fuel of the Next Generation of Clean Vehicles Is in Missouri's Soil

MU researchers developing more practical natural gas storage tanks using corncob waste, landfills

April 9, 2009

Story Contact: Kelsey Jackson, (573) 882-8353, JacksonKN@missouri.edu

COLUMBIA, Mo. -Natural-gas-fueled cars would be more eco-friendly and cost efficient than current petroleum-fueled cars. However, natural-gas-fueled vehicles face a few road blocks before they can cruise on every U.S. highway. The Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Technology (ALL-CRAFT), a partnership among the University of Missouri, the Midwest Research Institute (MRI) and nine other institutes, is working to make natural-gas-fueled cars a reality by using existing Missouri resources, such as corncob waste and methane from landfills.

"Missouri's corn can supply raw material for natural gas tanks for all the cars in the United States," said Peter Pfeifer, professor and chair of the Department of Physics in the MU College of Arts and Science. "The recovery of natural gas from Missouri's landfills would turn a pollutant into renewable energy and could provide an opportunity for economic growth in rural areas."