Washington: First steps towards a microgrid

November 7th, 2016

030926-F-2828D-307
Washington, D.C. (Sept. 26, 2003) — Aerial view of the Washington Monument with the Capitol in the background. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway. (RELEASED)

The city of Washington, DC, in the United States, seems to be increasingly set to take the plunge and move towards the installation of a microgrid, an intelligent electricity grid designed to bring energy production sites closer to consumer sites.

The implementation of this micro-grid would form a constituent part of the modernization of the city’s heating and cooling network, which operates on the basis of cogeneration (combined heat and power) and which also reaches the grand old age of 81 years old this year.

At present, between 70 and 80 buildings are served by the network, some are supplied with hot water, others with cooled water via the grid’s twenty kilometres of pipelines.

The city had previously added a cogeneration system to its network in the 2000s, as well as a chiller. The cogeneration system operates on gas, like the rest of the grid, and uses fuel oil as a back-up fuel source.

The excess electricity produced by the system is now donated to the grid. It is at this stage that the microgrid is expected to intervene, which should allow for a greater amount of energy consumption more locally

030926-F-2828D-307
Washington, D.C. (Sept. 26, 2003) — Aerial view of the Washington Monument with the Capitol in the background. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway. (RELEASED)