Battery power for Elk Neck

[ratbagp]

The local power company is considering battery power for my community which is located at the tip of the Elk Neck peninsula that juts down into the top of the Chesapeake Bay. It looks like Sunverge offers a solar / battery solution but solar is not mentioned in the article.

Any comments or suggestions from the electrical experts?

Personally, I would prefer to see a single large battery installed where the power line enters the community. There are some low lying unoccupied lots nearby that could be used for south-facing solar panels.

ray

•••

Delmarva Power and Sunverge are working on a pilot project that will bring back up service to homes on the Elk Neck peninsula.

Jason Tucker, Delmarva’s project lead, said homeowners in that area will be contacted to determine interest in participating. This area was identified by the utility for its unique position on the grid.

“Most of the homes in Elk Neck are fed on a single line,” Tucker said. “If a tree comes down or some other outage, there’s no back up.”

Elsewhere in the system, Tucker said customers can be rerouted to another line while the outage is fixed. With no redundancy, Tucker said Elk Neck is the perfect spot to launch this pilot program.

“There are 270 homes south of Elk Neck State Park,” he said. Those who participate will need room in their home to place equipment about the size of a dishwasher.

“It’s two batteries and additional equipment,” he said. The lithium ion batteries have a 15 year life. Those batteries would be called into service when the power goes out. In the interim the power gathered by those batteries can be drawn out and put on the grid for use by others.

Maryland Public Service Commission ordered the program through the Maryland Energy Storage Act, which looks for alternative concepts. Delmarva Power is working under one of four proposals in which a third party operates the program on behalf of the utility.

Sunverge will be in charge of what’s being called the Behind the Meter Virtual Power Plant.

“We are honored and excited to be selected for this project and to have the opportunity to work with Delmarva Power to demonstrate the value of residential battery systems for the residents at Elk Neck and to the electric grid,” said Martin Milani, CEO of Sunverge.

“We are confident that Sunverge’s advanced distributed energy resource control and aggregation solution will demonstrate the value of aggregating residential behind-the meter systems for the Maryland electricity grid and participating residential customers. It will provide autonomous and aggregated energy storage, with the goal of providing additional grid reliability and resiliency benefitting Delmarva Power’s entire service area.”

•••

The community lies just to the south of the Elk Neck State Park label. There is actually state park to the north and south of the community. It's one of the nicest locations on the east coast of the USA and I have loved living here, despite the power outages whenever the wind blows.



My house is the yellow star in the image below. The blue line is where the power line enters the community.

[SoundMods]

Here is the thing -- a lot depends on the connected load to the UPS system and how long it will be viable during an outage. Lithium batteries are sneaky -- they have a flat performance curve then drop out when exhausted -- no droop -- just drop.

Short-term outages could be served by a UPS system, but for long-term outages an emergency-power generator would be a better idea. But questions remain -- how short? -- how long?

If it were me, my response would be: "Thanks but no thanks." I would rather install an Otto-Cycle emergency power generator that runs on either natural gas (if available) or LP gas and connected to "mission critical" loads like HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration. The typical automatic transfer switch (ATS) will start the generator within a minute with a run-time as long as the fuel-supply holds up. Most generator manufacturers can quote fuel consumption ratings to enable an informed decision.

[ratbagp]

If a tree falls, the outage is typically three to four hours. In major events where multiple trees fall such as snow / ice storms or small tornadoes, it can be several days before power is restored.

Many houses in the community have emergency power generators already. I don't because I am a stubborn fool and I enjoy having candles for a change.

ray

[pboser]

Looks like a beautiful place to live - even with candles.

[Roscoe Primrose]

The typical automatic transfer switch (ATS) will start the generator within a minute with a run-time as long as the fuel-supply holds up.

When I worked at the data center, utility outage to generators carrying the full load in the building was about 4sec. All the critical loads were on UPS power as well.... We had more than 2wks worth of diesel on-site as well. Of course, that particular facility was more robustly built out in terms of generators, when the building was built there wasn't enough utility power available, the building ran on generators 24/7/365 for several years before the grid caught up...

Roscoe

[mix4fix]

I wouldn't live there. Only one way out and gets crippled by any and every weather event.

You are surrounded by water. What about the flooding?

[ratbagp]

Flooding is not an issue, even with king tides and storm surges. The Susquehanna Flats between the peninsula and Havre de Grace absorb a tremendous amount of water. There is occasional flooding in North East after heavy rain but there is an alternate back route.

Yes, occasionally we get isolated for days, but we are used to it and we all have stocks of food and water. The closest supermarket is 11 miles away in North East but when I was working I would just call home when I left work to see if we needed anything. It would take me roughly 30 minutes to drive to the local community college where I worked. During an idle moment while I was trundling along, I calculated that I had spent a year of my life on that road. The final five miles through the forest is a wonderful driving experience with multiple curves and hills. Of course, there are deer that leap out at you which can be unnerving.

ray

[Cogito]

Can you post pics of your beautiful neighborhood.

[ratbagp]

Back in 2012 I did the walk from the north to south rim of the Grand Canyon. I took some photos of my three mile training walk around the community and down to the nearby lighthouse which will give you an idea. The roads have been paved in the meantime.

http://ratbagp.blogspot.com/2012/05/grand-canyon-getting-ready.html

If you have the time, continue on to the following blog entries for the walk itself which was a wonderful experience. If you have the time and the health, do it.

Here is another blog of what it looks like behind my house.
http://ratbagp.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-ninth-anniversary-of-my-retirement.html#comment-form

My drive up the peninsula
http://ratbagp.blogspot.com/2016/11/some-autumn-leaves.html

A bald eagle makes an appearance.
http://ratbagp.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-bald-eagle-makes-appearance.html

ray

[TubeDriver]

Looks like a great place to be! Sunsets in your neighborhood must be something else.