Californian Jail with an Eye to the Future of Energy

The Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif., has ?teamed up with Chevron Energy Solutions to create its own microgrid, as the San Francisco Chronicle has reported

The jail is a major user of power, and pays around $3million for its annual utility bill. And with security systems everywhere depending on power, its really important that the power stays on .

With the help of Chevron Corp it has now created its own electrical grid.

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As the Chronicle reports "Santa Rita's new "microgrid" will allow the facility to cut itself off from the state's electrical grid during a blackout. Power will come from solar panels, wind turbines, a big fuel cell and an even bigger battery pack - all located at the jail. And the switch will happen so quickly, so seamlessly that most of the inmates and staff won't know anything happened.

The microgrid system has other benefits as well. It will cut the jail's utility bills by charging the battery pack at night, when electricity from the grid costs less, and using some of that stored energy in the afternoon, when power prices hit their peak.

"It lowers our costs, it gives us a redundancy system in place, and it sends a message to taxpayers that we're doing our best to run the most efficient jail we can," said Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern.

Funded by the state and federal governments, the $11 million system is a demonstration project that could show how big facilities such as hospitals and military bases could power themselves in the future. It also could help the larger grid by giving those facilities more control over the amount of electricity they need to draw from power lines."?

Spurred on by the experience of the 2000/2001 California's blackouts,Alameda County has been at the forefront of making Santa Rita's power system more self sufficient .In 2001 ?they started with solar ,and in 2005 a fuel cell was added. Then in 2010 five small wind turbines were added. Against all this generation the jail has also added energy efficiency measure to cut energy use.

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Source: http://www.celsias.com/article/californian-jail-eye-future-energy/

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