A nonprofit group in Los Angeles, California, is preparing to develop a community microgrid in the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
The group, Resilient Palisades, expects the community microgrid to boost resiliency in an area plagued by power outages, as well as lower electricity costs and improve the environment.
In the project’s first phase, Resilient Palisades aims to issue a request for proposals later this year for solar, battery storage and control equipment for community residents in an effort to attract volume discounts. Resilient Palisades is currently polling residents to gauge interest in the project. Residents would pay for their own equipment.
The group intends to give the public a shortlist of “favored” vendors in the fall. About 30,000 people live in Pacific Palisades.
After individual nanogrids are set up, Resilient Palisades intends to interconnect them into one or more communitywide microgrids, according to a May 13 summary of the project. The group is exploring financing options for setting up the community microgrid.
Resilient Palisades expects the cost of the project will be offset by reduced power bills and by selling excess electricity to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
Sen. Stern backs community microgrid
The group said its plan has received support from state Sen. Henry Stern, a microgrid advocate and lead sponsor of SB 1339, which requires the California Public Utilities Commission to help commercialize microgrids.
Resilient Palisades hopes its project will be a model for community microgrids.
The group noted the rules and regulations for multicustomer microgrids are evolving and that the project’s success requires collaboration among stakeholders, including electricity customers, the city of Los Angeles and LADWP.
The microgrid may help improve LADWP’s operations and reliability by reducing demand on the grid, according to Resilient Palisades.
LADWP has a 175-kW microgrid on its system at the La Kretz Innovation Campus for emerging clean technology businesses.
Read more about community microgrid projects on Microgrid Knowledge.
