Next year, we plan to install and further test our controller on-site in the central Puerto Rican community of Adjuntas. Microgrid orchestrator, and are now developing facilities to thoroughly test it in the lab. We have designed such a controller, which we call a Such networked microgrids can be isolated for longer periods from the main grid, which is crucial during long-term outages caused by severe weather and other natural disasters.

Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (including three of us-Ferrari, Ollis, and Starke) are investigating distributed controllers that will allow microgrids to form a larger network that will increase their resiliency and facilitate the integration of more renewable energy. People, Power, and the Sun: Honnold Foundation x Adjuntas, Puerto RicoĪlthough most microgrids today operate independently, one way to get the maximum benefit from them is to connect them, letting them share resources wherever and whenever possible. And it is vulnerable to precisely the kind of destructive storms that microgrids are designed to ride out with minimal interruption in electric service. The island gets on average nearly 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, putting it on a par with Honolulu and Brisbane, Australia. Several factors combine to make Puerto Rico an ideal place for solar power and microgrids.

Each microgrid includes generation, loads, transformers, distribution lines, protective devices, and, typically, energy storage. The winds had barely died down when electric-power specialists and others began calling for a radical overhaul of Puerto Rico’s electricity networks, one that would emphasize renewable energy, distributed generation, and, critically, microgrids.Ī microgrid is like a miniaturized, tightly controlled version of a power grid. Low-income and rural communities suffered the most, with some remaining without power for almost a year. The aftermath was even more calamitous: More than 4,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the shortage of medical care and basic resources during the extended power outages that followed the storm, according to research reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. Maria destroyed infrastructure and crops and initially claimed 64 lives. It was one of the deadliest and most damaging natural disasters to ever make landfall in the United States. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico.

Free instal City Island: Collections