Batteries, a VPP and a School Microgrid Will Help Keep Solar-Soaked Durango Awash in Renewables

Durango, Colorado has an average 266 days a year of sunshine, and prosumers are taking advantage of it by installing solar panels and flooding the grid with solar.

 While it sounds like a good problem to have, the grid can’t make use of all that solar–unless distributed energy resources absorb it for use when there’s less sun available.

A virtual power plant (VPP) and an ongoing battery program are expected to help the local utility, La Plata Electric Association (LPEA), integrate more renewable energy onto the grid.

Separately, a microgrid is being planned at Mountain Middle School in Durango.

The goal of the VPP project, under which the utility will aggregate energy stored in home batteries into a dispatchable power plant, is to control customers’ batteries directly, said Dominic May, director of system innovation at LPEA.

Challenges for small utilities trying to directly control batteries

May hoped to create a VPP that could do just that, but he encountered challenges with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) implementing that idea, and now is focusing on deploying a front-of-meter utility-scale battery that could absorb excess solar and release it when it’s needed.

The problem with the original plan: battery manufacturers weren’t willing or able to provide direct control of their products for LPEA. The co-op wanted to pay the manufacturers for the right to use their software controls.

“The weak link has been OEMs and their willingness to participate. Some are reticent, some want to be their own aggregators,” May said.

Focusing on helping prosumers self-consume solar

The co-op was spending too much money trying to get direct controls to work, so it decided to take a step back and provide battery incentives to customers and also encourage prosumers to consume the solar energy they produce, rather than sending it to the grid.

“When OEMs play more nicely, we’ll be ready to swoop back in and aggregate these resources,” he said.

Another challenge to deploying a VPP is a lack of real-time pricing from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a nonprofit that supplies power to the co-op.

LPEA plans to start acquiring power through the Southwest Power Pool, which offers real-time wholesale power rates that will help the co-op identify the best times to charge and discharge batteries.

Battery rebate program could help integrate excess solar

The co-op has a battery rebate program in place under which customers located in a high solar penetration zone receive a bonus rebate. Customers qualify for the bonus rebate if the battery system is approved to export power and if they delay charging until noon in April, May, September and October.

By charging at noon or later, customers use some of the excess solar that’s available at that time. The co-op offers to help people program their batteries to meet this requirement.

“Eventually, we intend to aggregate/integrate these into a VPP, but for the time being, we are running this program design while we continue to shop for a firmer DERMS (distributed energy resource management system) platform. This helps alleviate the peak demand charge or time-of-use on-peak rate we have for all members,” he said.

PGE, PG&E direct control programs

Other, larger utilities are offering programs under which utilities directly control customers’ batteries. For example, Portland General Electric has a smart battery pilot program under which the utility charges or discharges the battery when needed to support the grid. Battery owners are paid $1.70 per kWh during each peak-time event.

Pacific Gas & Electric has a program under which Tesla will aggregate its customers’ batteries into a virtual power plant to help support the grid.

In a separate effort, Mountain Middle School in Durango–located in one of LPEA’s  high-solar penetration zones–plans a microgrid that will serve as a resilience hub during outages. The project will include 74 KW of solar now deployed at the school, along with a battery with a capacity of 61.4 kWh. The microgrid can power critical facilities like heating, cooling, lighting and electric vehicle charging systems and internet for up to 72 hours during a power outage.

The school could enroll the microgrid’s battery in the co-op’s battery program, said May.

Colorado Department of Local Affairs funds 25 resilience hubs

Julia Masters, community resilience manager for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), said the department granted the school $107,410–half the price of the project–and a local fund will pay for the rest.

The school is one of 25 resilience hubs the department has funded.

Resilience hubs that are already up include a community center in Fort Collins, she said. DOLA, which has provided  $3,389,000 for resilience hubs, has been awarded nearly $13 million from the federal Department of Energy and expects to receive another $14 million for resilience projects.

While those resilience hubs are moving forward, LPEA will take a second look  at its direct battery control project next summer, hoping to find an aggregator to help control the batteries, said May.

“We’re re-establishing our price signals, going back into direct control and want to aggregate the batteries. But we don’t have the software capability,” he said. “We’re looking again next summer. It’s an immature market. The companies that can aggregate the batteries are extremely expensive and only work with big investor-owned utilities.”

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