1. Microgrids & Emerging Control Techniques
The Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century
April 8, 2016
Herman Wiegman , PhD
GE Global Research
Niskayuna, NY

2. Microgrid Types and Example Projects
Building level - a few critical loads, solar, storage, diesel
Campus level - usually contains a CHP + solar, maybe storage
Military base - mix of CHP, diesel, solar, multi-POI, 1-owner
Community - multiple sources, owners, and objectives
Past
Bella Coola – British Columbia small community, <1MW
MCAGCC at Twentynine Palms, CA military base, 7MW
Present
NiceGrid, France commercial
Singapore Semakau Landfill community, 1 MW
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard military base, 8 MW
Future
Philladelphia Shipyard commercial, 8MW
Potsdam, NY community, 9 MW

3. Financial Viability of Microgrids
What makes financial sense?
UPS + DG for Critical Loads
CHP for many campuses
Renewables for communities
Connecting these together have value during natural disasters…
Micro-Grid

4. Need for resiliency & ability to recover quickly
Figure 1 1: Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters in 2012
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

5. Community Resiliency
Quickly respond to, and recover from, natural disasters.
Serve critical support for recover crews in the region.

6. DOE + GE, Microgrid Controller Development ($1.5M, 2 years)
Target Community
Potsdam, NY
Primary Benefits
for Potsdam
Resiliency to more loads
Economic Dispatch of Gen/CHP
Coordination with Solar + Hydro
Additional revenue stream (Ancil. Serv.)
Proposed underground network to key buildings and services.

7. Gaps and Barriers for Microgrids
DistCo’s / Utilities allowed to provide u-Grid services (NatGrid)
Regulatory
Encourage community resiliency plans
NY PRIZE, California, Connecticut …
Policy
Standards for micro grid controllers (IEEE & .8)
Security and Communication Standards
Equipment models and CIM libraries for easy of development
Standards
Military bases investing in electricity security (29Palms)
Campuses, tech demo, energy efficiency, (UC-San Diego)
Communities , resiliency, optimization (Potsdam, Buffalo )
Market

8. Other Interesting Developments
EV Charger Controls – the next big challenge
Control of Loads – Synthetic Reserves

9. EV Charger Controls Building level EV charger management
Feeder & sub-station peak load management
Regional management of EV recharge

10. Control of Loads 1st world grids are controlled via generation side
3rd world grids are controlled via load side
What if you combined
the two approaches?
Control of loads to help
serve grid functions.
“Synthetic Reserves” via Flexible Resources
GE proposal to ARPA-E