Houston Will Be Home to Largest Microgrid in the Country that Supports a Water Pumping Plant
The solution also enables the city to fully comply with the regulatory requirements specified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for water treatment facilities and provide greater operational reliability during maintenance and grid outage periods....
Solar, Storage Among New Projects in Texas
Houston-based Enchanted Rock on Wednesday said it was awarded a contract from the city to provide electrical resiliency services to the city’s Northeast Water Purification Plant (NEWPP) Expansion facility. The natural gas-fueled microgrid will provide facility backup...
Enchanted Rock to Install Microgrid for Regional Water Authority in Texas
Enchanted Rock, a Texas-based company, will set up a 2.4 MW microgrid for the North Fort Bend Water Authority to ensure water deliveries during power outages. Earlier this summer, the board for the regional water authority, approved a $1.2 million contract with...
Hurricane Hanna Demonstrates Value of Microgrids for 30 MW of Texas Load
Hurricane Hanna offered a case study in the value of microgrids when it hit the Texas Coast near Corpus Christi on July 25, causing widespread power outages. The hurricane dumped up to 18 inches of water in parts of Texas and about 200,000 utility customers lost...
Record Number of Microgrids Installed in US Last Year
546 microgrids were installed in the United States during 2019, more than any previous year, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie.Three organizations - PowerSecure, Enchanted Rock and The American Red Cross – installed a combined 67% of these projects. Though...
COVID-19 Propels Microgrids in Healthcare Sector, but Regulatory, Awareness Hurdles Remain
In 2018, with a nearly $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC), a company called Charge Bliss built a 250 kW, 1 MWh solar and battery storage microgrid on top of a medical center in Richmond, California. The center saw immediate benefits,...
The New Reality: Don’t Ignore the Black Swan Events
It is human nature to avoid spending money on preparations for an event that may never happen. However, as we all continue to adapt to a COVID-19 world, there is a new awareness of low probability, high impact events. If the consequences of a statistically unlikely...
Natural Gas Microgrids Do What Solar and Batteries Alone Can’t for California Resiliency, Report Says
California utilities face resistance to deploying natural gas generators. But the alternative may be dirtier diesel. The report is from consultancy Brattle Group and sponsored by Enchanted Rock, a Texas-based developer of microgrids centered on natural gas generators....
PG&E’s Plan to Mitigate Blackouts This Wildfire Season: Lots More Diesel Generators
PG&E's Plan to Mitigate Blackouts this Fire Season “I think that it’s apparent, given the short timeline left for preparation for fire season — which technically starts in a week — that all of the parties are resigned to diesel temporary generation being...
Texas’ Sunbaked Grid May Need Microgrids this Summer
The grid operator for most of the state warned this week that the summer is likely to bring record-breaking peak demand for electricity, a situation that can threaten electric reliability and jack up prices It’s not unusual for the heavily air-conditioned state to use...