France-based Schneider Electric, in partnership with engineering, design and installation firm Faith Technologies, has designed and built a clean energy microgrid at the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve in Appleton, Wisconsin, US.
Image: Schneider Electric’s head office in France. Photo: courtesy of Schneider Electric/Wikipedia.
The new advanced microgrid comprises a 200kW solar photovoltaic energy; a 30kW hydrogen fuel cell; a 100kW lithium-ion battery storage system that utilizes Panasonic technology; a 65kW micro-turbine; and a 60kW Kohler natural gas generator to power the 18,000-square-foot nature center building.
Faith Technologies CEO Mike Jansen said: “This microgrid was designed and engineered by Faith’s team of energy experts and utilizes specialized equipment and technology made possible through our collaboration with a very forward-thinking partner; Schneider Electric.
“We worked together to make sure we were creating a solution that was not only environmentally smart, but enhanced the preserve’s organizational sustainability through cost effective energy efficiency as well.”
Schneider Electric’s Energy Control Center, an intelligent, pre-engineered power control center, manages the microgrid’s integrated distributed energy resources (DER), which is also optimized by Schneider Electric’s cloud-connected Software-as-a-Service platform EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor.
Schneider strategic customers and microgrid solutions vice-president Don Wingate said: “By using tools like Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor, the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve microgrid will also have greater control over energy to achieve its goals by optimizing when energy is consumed, produced, or stored.”
The EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor has been designed to manage all DER in addition to offering remote monitoring, real-time energy price management, demand response requests, peak shaving, CO2 tracking and storm hardening services.
The modular, scalable, repeatable microgrid technology is intended to help the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve unlock better financial sustainability.
Schneider said that the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve project acts as a testing site for microgrid operations. It allows testing and measurement of a microgrid technologies’ impact in a real-world environment while supporting the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve’s mission.
Jansen added: “This microgrid at Bubolz was designed to showcase the wide range of clean energy components that can make up a microgrid.
“From solar panels to microturbines, we’re able to customize an energy solution that is tailored to each individual business. Microgrids provide control, in the form of uninterrupted clean energy, to today’s energy reliant businesses.”