POWER May 2020 - 11

GLOBAL MONITOR
in several regions, including Australia,
Germany, Japan, and South Korea. The
company's software power-grid management
technology is being used by renewable
energy developers and operators,
grid operators, commercial and industrial
property owners, and incorporated into
microgrid designs. Its efforts are part of a
global wave of bringing cleaner, more reliable
power to areas far away from a traditional
grid, and at times to areas that have
not previously had access to electricity. In
some of these areas, renewable energy
may be the only way to get power.
" We're seeing a lot of interest from
utilities in multiple parts of the world, be
it Japan, Europe, or the U.S., " said Patrick
Lee, president and co-inventor at PXiSE,
in an interview with POWER. " All the
people recognize that localized generation,
whether it's community solar, rooftop
solar, EVs [electric vehicles], batteries
that people are deploying ... it's about providing
power generation and having more
control over that generation. In some cases
it's a matter of adding a solution to the
existing network to continue to provide
the customers with what they need. "
Two of PXiSE's recent projects, in Onslow,
Australia (Figure 2), and on Jeju Island
off the coast of South Korea, show
the possibilities of adding grid control
technology, and using microgrid concepts,
to provide a cleaner and more
reliable power supply. It's a process that
also has been touted for use in the U.S.,
in particular in areas prone to natural disasters.
New Jersey has set in motion
a program to fund a statewide microgrid
network; 13 communities in the state
have been awarded grants to study the
feasibility of a microgrid, an effort that
sprung from the devastation to the
state's power grid during Superstorm
Sandy in 2012. In California, utilities have
looked at microgrids as a way to provide
reliable power in areas prone to wildfires.
" We have one California utility with
multiple microgrids that they're interested
in deploying prior to the fire season, " said
Lee. " I think long-term a large network
would be organized into a regional grid
structure. And the operation of that would
be the concept of a network of microgrids. "
What might those microgrids look like?
Lee used the Onslow project as an example,
noting how the microgrid has moved
the remote area on Australia's northwest
coast away from its reliance on dieselpowered
generation. The town is served
by Horizon Power, one of Western Australia's
primary utilities. Horizon provides
power to remote towns, beach communities,
and agricultural regions, across a vast
service territory of more than 888,000
square miles. That area, though, has a
customer base of only 47,000-meaning,
according to PXiSE, that Horizon has the
largest service territory with the fewest
number of customers in the world. Horizon
has a goal of decreasing generation
costs and providing more sustainable
electricity to its customers, and has begun
installing solar power and battery
storage to supply more of the region's energy
demands with renewable sources.
" With a large part of the Onslow microgrid
made up of solar and storage [3
MW in total], the town is able to offset
the use of much of the diesel generators
that historically provided power for this
community. The PXiSE Microgrid Controller
has enabled Onslow to increase
its annual renewable energy contribution
to exceed 50%, and operate on almost
full renewable power during certain seasons
and times of the day, thus dramatically
reducing reliance on fossil fuels, "
said Lee. " It is estimated that the town
will be able to reduce carbon emissions
by over 800 tons per year. "
The Onslow project was initiated in
2. The microgrid in Onslow, Australia, incorporates
several technologies. The installation
includes eight 1-MW natural gas generators, a
1-MW diesel generator, 1 MW of solar power
generation capacity, and a 2-MW/1.25-MWh
battery storage system, along with a PXiSE
high-speed microgrid controller. Courtesy: PXiSE
Energy Solutions and Horizon Power
May 2020 | POWER
2016 by Horizon Power, Chevron Australia,
and the Western Australia state
government, and came online in 2019.
Chevron has invested more than $250
million toward infrastructure projects in
Onslow as part of a State Development
Agreement led by the company's Wheatstone
LNG project, a liquefied natural
gas plant that took its first shipment of
LNG in 2017. The first stage of the Onslow
microgrid project delivered gas-fired
generation and associated infrastructure,
including a transmission line, zone substation,
and distribution network extension;
the second stage saw the completion of a
www.powermag.com
More than a
Check Valve
It's a
CHECK-ALL
®
SILENT OPERATION!
Our check valves close
quickly and smoothly to
minimize hammer noise.
That's what makes our
check valves Check-All.
®
SPRING-LOADED!
Multiple spring settings
available. Assembled to your
exact needs. Most lead times
are less than one week.
UPSTREAM TRIM!
The upstream trim is
protected from corrosive
media mixing; thereby,
extending valve service life.
Proudly made in the USA
Call us at 515-224-2301
email us at sales@checkall.com
www.checkall.com
11
http://www.checkall.com http://www.powermag.com
POWER May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER May 2020
