Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Opus One announce $12.4 M North American multi-utility microgrid project
Opus One Solutions (Opus One), Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS), and a consortium of partners announced a $12.4 million USD North American multi-utility microgrid project last week. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) will provide $4 million USD in funding to support the project, designed to improve integration of distributed energy resources and commercial microgrids into power systems and regional wholesale markets. The project will demonstrate smart and integrated transactive energy networks that integrate wind, solar, electric vehicle charging stations, battery storage, and feeder-based microgrids into traditional electricity power systems at three utilities in the United States and Canada.
“Today’s power grid needs advanced storage solutions to accommodate the variability of renewable generation,” says Alain P. Steven, AMS’ chief technology advisor in a news release. “The combined platform will provide grid operators with grid reliability services while lowering the net costs of storage through participation in wholesale and developing distribution markets.”
Multiple partners, multiple utilities
Partners include Emera Maine, Smarter Grid Solutions, and the Center for Urban Energy at Ryerson University. The multi-utility project includes development of a commercial microgrid consisting of solar, battery storage and backup diesel generation integrated with distribution-level feeder operations and the regional transmission operator; a distributed energy resources (DERs) management demonstration project; and a feeder-based microgrid featuring wind resources, grid-scale energy storage and up to 10 residential battery systems. AMS’s platform will perform an economic optimization of the DERs, while Opus One’s GridOS will ensure that the DERs are optimally dispatched within the physical constraints of the grid. Behind the meter microgrids will provide grid and market operators virtual resources capable of providing integrated demand response and advanced ancillary services. In front of the meter microgrids will provide the grid operator with the ability to perform feeder load relief, volt/VAR optimization and conservation voltage reduction.