Eight years ago, I wrote an article, “What is it about Humboldt County and Microgrids?” that looked at the Northern California county’s outsized microgrid activity.
Two years ago, I wrote a follow-up story that found even more microgrid innovation in this rural, westernmost outpost of the state.
And now it continues…
A new project in the county shows how electric vehicles (EVs) can boost microgrid resilience.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Nissan, and Fermata Energy reported last week that they are integrating EVs and bidirectional chargers into the Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid to support the grid and enhance energy resilience through automated frequency response.
“This pilot provides a scalable blueprint for communities, fleets, and utilities to harness EVs as distributed energy resources, accelerating the transition to a cleaner and more reliable grid in California and beyond,” said Hamza Lemsaddek, Fermata Energy’s chief operating officer.
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Microgrid controller technology developed by the Schatz Center will enable EVs to support the microgrid by balancing solar and battery energy storage in real time. The automated frequency response comes from Fermata Energy’s V2X platform.
The project uses Nissan LEAFs, equipped with quick-charging ports and four bidirectional charging stations.
What happens to the cars and chargers when the microgrid disconnects from the grid (such as during a grid outage) is particularly interesting.
Usually, they’ll just operate normally. But if the microgrid’s batteries are nearly full or nearly empty, the Schatz Center’s microgrid controller steps in to address the issue. It makes small changes in grid frequency so that the cars and chargers can inject power into the microgrid to boost a depleted microgrid battery. Or if the battery is full, the cars and chargers absorb the microgrid’s excess energy.
“Integrating bidirectional chargers and EVs at the Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid is an innovative solution that will expand the capacity of the site, extending the capability for powering the airport during local grid outages and providing another clean energy resource for ensuring statewide grid stability,” said Mike Delaney, PG&E’s vice president, utility partnerships and innovation.
To be fair, other counties probably could take claim to the most Microgrid-ish county moniker. Two that come to mind are Montgomery County, Maryland, for its breadth of county microgrids, and Cuyahoga County, Ohio for its ambition. But Humboldt County, which has only about 130,000 people, is home to not only the airport microgrid, but also the famed Blue Lake Rancheria microgrid and the Schatz Center that together keep rolling out microgrid innovations.
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