ORIGINAL REPORTING: Moving Microgrids Into the Reliability Equation

Solar-plus-Storage Microgrids to Regulators

Herman K. Trabish, October 12, 2021 (California Current)

Editor’s note: The commission declined to move on this proposal but suggested the parties take it to other proceedings.

An innovative proposal from Vote Solar and other solar advocates would demonstrate that customer-sited solar and storage can provide reliability and resiliency. The Joint Solar Reliability Parties microgrid docket filing with the California Public Utilities Commission proposes rebates for adding storage to solar and committing part of the stored generation to the system during daily peak demand periods, similar to what was adopted by the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District.

Based on a proposal being implemented by Hawaiian Electric, the plan could provide 1.5 GW of peak demand support to the California system, Vote Solar Senior Director for Grid Integration Ed Smeloff said.

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The proposal was made after an Aug. 17 CPUC ruling expedited its Track 4 phase 1 microgrid proceeding, requesting proposals to increase 2022 resiliency and reliability. It was in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s July 30 emergency directed regulators to accelerate strategies preventing blackouts.

While the primary venue to address reliability is the docket established to address that issue, “proposals will be considered in the microgrid proceeding if they address the Governor’s reliability goal,” Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma wrote.

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Generation sources that can isolate from the system, like microgrids, provide local resilience after a blackout, but without storage capabilities they are usually too limited in scale to effectively serve system reliability.

Reliability is “normal, routine operation” of the power system when not disrupted by outages or capacity shortfalls,” a new San Diego Gas and Electric microgrid proceeding filing said. In other words, it’s keeping the lights on. Resiliency is adapting to “reliability events” locally to return service to individuals or communities, that is, getting the lights back on. California’s investor-owned utilities, SDG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Southern California Edison, raised concerns in a joint filing about the solar advocates proposal… click here for more

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