"Solar-based microgrids have also seen an uptick in adoption since Maria. During prolonged outages, they can provide a cleaner and less expensive alternative to emergency diesel generators. Diesel generators emit harmful pollutants and are expensive to operate, especially in the aftermath of a devastating storm, when fuel is scarce. " #disasters#generators#solar#hurricanes#microgrids
Anyone in disaster preparedness planning for their community should take note of this paragraph of how this microgrid works: "The experience of regularly operating the system in islanded mode will be crucial when the next natural disaster shuts down the main grid. During such extreme events, the connected businesses will serve the entire community by providing refrigeration for medicines and perishables, power to recharge smartphones and laptops, a community kitchen, and a laundry, just to name a few essential services. " #DisasterPreparedness#microgrid#power
@ai6yr This is exactly why I’m so worried about the tendency for public utilities all across the American west to make it much harder to install and maintain the hardware to enable this—so much about short term gain, and long term need-blindness, looking in from the outside of the regulatory planning
@ai6yr@Cvwarren @andybrwn
Andy, what do you think the odds are here of policy supporting microgrids in residential areas in California in, say, the next 4 years? What would it take?
@knowattitude@ai6yr@Cvwarren I need to look up the recent CPUC decision in the microgrid proceeding. But one impediment is an existing law that says a self generating customer can only send power to two immediately adjacent customers. And then there’s issues around how that can be paid for, because you don’t want to become a public utility.
@Cvwarren@ai6yr So far they can't do anything about portable off-grid solar. Even generating the energy one needs is energy that isn't being generated dirty by a corporate utility.
@glightly@ai6yr certainly vital equipment and important, but thinking about vital medium-term public-health considerations like refrigeration, those residential scale panels are in a different class
@Cvwarren@ai6yr Folks who own McMansions generally have enough $ to get the larger portable stuff. For me, I live in a trailer and can keep my fridge running 24 hr off battery, for more than one day if I have sun and can do pass-through.
I'm not saying the cost was trivial, but I prioritized this as emergency planning. Price is going down and portability & capability is going up each year.
This isn't the end of what we need - just saying that crooks who buy legislators can't fully win.
@glightly@ai6yr we’ve got friends in NM that are lucky enough to have the resources (natural and $) for large solar and geothermal on a rancho, and I wish that sort of solution was more practical and widely available—and that some sort of mutual aid was baked-in in principle so that we won’t all be on our own when the disruption eventually reaches us all
@Cvwarren@ai6yr I agree. Part of mutual aid is reaching out and forming community with others to build it, though. You may not have the solar skills yourself, but maybe have the networking skills to start finding interested people who need to club together, then find expertise.
I am not on top of all the tech electronics aspects myself yet (which is why I bought portable battery system instead of building my own for less $). YouTube is a place to learn.
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