SMUD Chooses Major Microgrid Investment

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District board of directors November 20 approved $1.58 million in joint funding research with the California Energy Commission to field demonstrate a microgrid at SMUD headquarters. “The current project tests the ability of the microgrid to switch between functioning as part of the larger grid or independently with natural gas power. But future microgrids could use alternative generation sources, such as photovoltaics,” said SMUD director Bill Slaton. “The microgrid offers not only an opportunity to use energy more efficiently and provide ultra-reliable power to those customers that depend on it such as hospitals, but it might serve as part of SMUD’s business model in the future,” he said. That funding is up from the $1.56 million the muni approved for the project in September. After results are in, approval of a second phase could be considered. The followup phase would include installing and demonstrating the microgrid /smartgrid with a 310 kW base load and 375 kW peak load capability. Also during the meeting, the SMUD board chose its officers for 2009. Howard Posner, an 11-year veteran of the board, was unanimously voted in as president and Bill Slaton was named vice president. This meeting was Susan Patterson’s last after 10 years on the board. She’s being succeeded by Nancy Bui, a 29-year-old energy and technology consultant who won a municipal election November 4 to represent Ward 2 on the board. Patterson did not run for re-election. Also joining the board will be former Sacramento City Councilman Rob Kerth, who was elected to a four-year term as the Ward 5 representative. Kerth, who ran unopposed, replaces Peter Keat, who’s retiring after 20 years on the board. At its November 13 meeting, the SMUD board approved a second and final addendum to a project to relocate a Folsom Dam transmission line. The Army Corps of Engineers is building a traffic bridge below Folsom Dam across the American River and SMUD’s 230 kV power line is in the area where the bridge is being built. In January 2007, an agreement was reached to move the line in phases over a couple of years. The addendum approves the final phase of the new route’s construction. Also during that meeting, the board of directors approved three-year contracts with Plexus, Structure Consulting Group, and Deloitte Consulting for advanced metering infrastructure consulting services. The contracts are from December 1, 2008, through November 31, 2011, for a total amount not to exceed $1.5 million.

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SMUD Chooses Major Microgrid Investment

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