Located in Napa County, the Calistoga Resiliency Centre (CRC) is designed to keep the town powered during wildfire shutoffs and to serve as a model for Net Zero backup systems. The region has faced multiple major wildfires in recent years, including the 2017 Tubbs Fire.
PG&E said the 293MWh microgrid can supply up to 8.5MW for at least 48 hours continuously.
The facility integrated hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries, and can reportedly supply electricity to around 1,600 customers for at least 48 hours if PG&E shuts off the main grid during an emergency.
The batteries work alongside the fuel cells to handle quick changes in demand and keep the grid stable.
Because the system uses liquid hydrogen stored on-site, more hydrogen can be delivered and added to the tank without shutting the system down, reportedly allowing it to run for longer at lower cost than traditional backup options.
“[We’re] committed to continually delivering innovations that enhance electric system safety and reliability while driving costs down for our customers,” PG&E’s Mike Delaney explained.
Worth $28m, PG&E said the project serves as a “model for Energy Vault’s future utility-scale hybrid microgrid system deployments.”
PG&E has deployed 13 microgrids since 2021, but the Calistoga system is the largest and first fully renewable project of its kind. It aligns with California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and broader Net Zero targets.
The real-world challenges of hydrogen microgrids
This summer, Western Australian (WA) state-owned power firm Horizon Power released a knowledge-sharing report from its Denham Hydrogen Demonstration Project – a hydrogen microgrid located in the town of Denham, some 800km north of Perth.
Microgrids, by nature, are self-sufficient, localised energy systems, which could offer a robust energy supply for those affected by increasingly intermittent and politicised energy grids. Hydrogen can be used in these microgrid systems as a storage medium. While batteries have their use cases, long-term storage requires an alternative solution.
Hydrogen’s role in microgrids has been steadily building, although often overshadowed by the giga-scale production project announcements and policy debates. From military and industrial uses to community power and large-scale energy storage, projects across the world are trying to showcase how the technologies could play a role in securing sustainability and resilience.
Powering a town of around 800 permanent residents, the Horizon project added hydrogen into Denham’s existing microgrid power system, which relied on diesel, wind and solar generators with battery energy storage.
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