Alstom receives $1.2M DOE funding to advance Philadelphia microgrid project
Alstom receives $1.2M DOE funding to advance Philadelphia microgrid project
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Alstom has been awarded $1.2M by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to improve grid resiliency through the advancement of microgrid technology. Alstom will research and design a community microgrid system in partnership with the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), which provides water, wastewater and storm water services for greater Philadelphia, and PIDC, Philadelphias public-private economic development corporation.
The demonstration will be implemented at The Navy Yard, the 1,200-acre former naval shipyard, now transformed into a progressive and modern business campus with more than 145 companies in the office, industrial, and R&D sectors occupying more than 6.5 million square feet of space. PIDC is the master developer of The Navy Yard, overseeing all aspects of the propertys electric grid planning and development. Upon completion, portions of the campus will be self-sufficient in generating, managing and storing electricity and will be able to operate independently from the main grid in case of an outage due to extreme weather or other extraordinary events.
This microgrid demonstration is in line with the DOEs national objective to improve grid resiliency, reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency, while protecting critical infrastructure, said Michael Atkinson, President of Alstom Grid North America. We look forward to advancing this technology platform in collaboration with our partners and the DOE and hope that this project can serve as the catalyst for the future development in communities worldwide.
The Microgrid Research Development and System Design (RD&D) project will address growth in Distributed Energy Resources such as renewables, Distributed Generation (DG), Demand Response (DR) and energy storage, while achieving enhanced grid resiliency. By combining Alstoms energy management and substation automation technology, the Company will provide PWD and PIDC with a comprehensive end-to-end Microgrid Controller System (MGCS) prototype which includes microgrid islanding, synchronization and reconnection, protection, voltage frequency, power quality management and system resiliency The project implementation team includes Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), California Institute of Energy and Environment (CIEE) and Washington State University (WSU) as the R&D partners and The Burns Group as the construction design engineering partner while PJM and PECO will serve as the member of the project advisory board, as both PIDC and PWD fall in their territory.
PIDC is excited to continue the work on The Navy Yards microgrid collaboratively with DOE and our partners at Alstom and PWD, said Will Agate, Senior Vice President, Navy Yard Management & Development for PIDC. Together, we are demonstrating another way that Philadelphia is an innovative, sustainable, and forward-thinking place to locate and grow your business.
Alstom is one of seven organizations to receive microgrid funding ($8M total) from the DOE as part of President Obamas Climate Action Plan and aligns with the Administrations goal of improving the resiliency of the nations energy grid.