Nation's First Solar Microgrid with Emergency Storage Breaks Ground

Green Mountain Power has begun constructing a 2-MW solar microgrid on a city landfill in Vermont. The unit is designed to store power during storms for an emergency shelter at Rutland High School.

The $10-million Stafford Hill Solar Farm, which broke ground on Aug. 10, is the first project in the nation to establish a micro-grid powered solely by solar and battery backup, with no other fuel source, the U.S. Dept. of Energy says.

Stafford Hill includes 7,700 325-watt solar panels on a ballasted ground-mounted system with no below-grade foundations, according to Green Mountain Power, Colchester, Vt. The 2-MW system includes 4 MW of battery storage for solar generation, which will benefit customers and, in an emergency, allow the disconnection of an entire circuit from the grid while still providing power for the shelter.

The project received about $250,000 from DOE and another $35,000 from the Vermont Clean Energy Fund. Dynapower Corp. is manufacturing and designing the power inverters and procuring the batteries, and groSolar is managing construction, says Josh Castonguay, director of strategic products and services at Green Mountain Power. The project is using both fast- charging lithium-ion batteries and longer-discharging lead-acid ones.

Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) in a statement said there is a clear need for self-sustaining microgrids that can continue to provide power during storms and when there are widespread outages.

"This project focuses more on the local grid—it's not a big bulk transmission project," Castonguay says. "The goal is to duplicate the microgrid around the state, and, separately, we're looking at developing energy storage on a smaller distributed scale on the grid to assist customers and first responders."

Johanna Knapschaefer, ENR’s New England Special Correspondent, has been writing about trends in design and construction of buildings, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure for more than a decade. She also profiles award-winning industry leaders and delves into broader construction issues such as workforce training, worker safety and health, climate change remediation and emerging offshore wind and tidal energy developments. Over the past two decades, her articles have appeared in Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, American Banker, Modern Metals, BusinessNH Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and many other publications. Johanna is fluent in Japanese, and taught English and academic writing in the Science and Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, while living in Japan for eight years.

When not writing, Johanna enjoys mountain climbing, singing and playing her Spanish guitar.

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