Seattle Parks’ Miller Community Center was visited last month by Washington Governor Inslee and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell who were celebrating Earth Day and the Center’s new microgrid – installed by Puget Sound Solar!
KING5 TV was there covering the Governor and Mayor’s visit.
The project includes solar plus energy storage so that the Community Center can act as an emergency hub for the community in case of a power outage, also known as a microgrid. We wrote about how microgrids can help stabilize the grid last year when 4,000,000 people in Texas experienced a power outage because of their utilities being unprepared for extreme cold winter weather which froze it’s natural gas lines. Decentralized smart grids are the future but for the most part, the US is dependant upon a centralized grid model. Producing electricity as close to where it’s being used is a better design that reduces risk and increases the overall resiliency of our electrical grid.
Our Puget Sound Solar Commercial team designed and installed a 42.52kW (kilowatt) solar PV system using 132 LG Solar, 365 watt solar panels split between two different sections of the roof and mounted them on PanelClaw’s Polar Bear III racking system. We installed three Solectrica 14TL solar string inverters which are connected to large batteries which can provide ongoing electricity to the Community Center when the main electrical grid is not working and reduces the amount of electricity the Center pulls from the grid. This saves the Center money which can be reallocated for programming.
In addition to the solar and inverters, we designed and installed a concrete pad and protective fencing around the batteries.
DNV GL did the site selection and is providing oversight on the project based on their experiences with other microgrid projects around the globe. The University of Washington will compile and analyze data, and Worley was the main contractor on this project.
The project is funded by Seattle City Light and Washington State’s Department of Commerce’s Clean Energy Fund.
There are 26 Community Centers spread across Seattle that are managed by the Seattle Parks Departments. These Centers are valuable community resources with recreational, educational and social activities for kids and adults and now they have the opportunity to become a safe haven with lighting, heating when there is a power outage or natural disaster.
Homeowners and businesses can set up their own microgrids and secure their electricity by going solar and adding energy storage. If you’re interested in finding out how much this would cost, please give us a call at 206-706-1931 or fill out our contact form and tell us a little about your project.
