Editor's Note: The following "Focus" page will be updated periodically with new information on the DPU-NEDO project.
The first megawatt of Photovoltaic (PV) panels funded by NEDO installed at the site of the former Los Alamos County Landfill. Courtesy Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities.
From the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities – DPU-NEDO Demonstration Smart Grid Collaboration webpage:
The Los Alamos Dept. of Public Utilities, Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are teaming up to develop smart grid technology here – a test bed to solve the nations overburdened and antiquated power grid. Smart grids are new-generation electrical power networks that efficiently control and balance the supply and demand of power through digital information that integrates small and large-scale renewable energy sources.
The Los Alamos Demonstration Smart Grid project will build a residential microgrid that includes:
• A 2 megawatt photovoltaic solar array at the former landfill on East Jemez Road
• A large scale battery storage system
• A demonstration smart home in Los Alamos equipped with photovoltaics, a battery, a home energy management system, and smart equipment and appliances for optimized power consumption, and
• Smart meters.
From an article on the collaborative demonstration smart grid project featured in Los Alamos Science and Technology Magazine, November 2010, "Solar Smart Grid in the Atomic City," written by Necia Grant Cooper/Los Alamos National Security, LLC.. Click image for an enlarged view. Solar Smart Grid in Atomic City is also available in pdf format HERE.
The first megawatt grid has been install by the NEDO consortium from Japan and is expected to start officially sending power to the Los Alamos grid in the September 2012 time frame. An RFP (Request For Proposal) will be issued by the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilties for the construction and operation of the second megawatt grid to be built on the East side of the caped Los Alamos landfill. The NEDO consortium will operate the first megawatt grid for two years, after which the grid's operation will to turned over the the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities.
A micro Energy Management System (EMS) will be integrated into the Los Alamos electrical power distribution grid. The development of this software system is a key component of the project, allowing control of the use of energy through the "smart" electrical grid.
Watch a nine minute video produced by the Los Alamos Dept. of Public Utilities:
Other project related sources: Smart Grid Demonstration in Los Alamos – 4th Internation Conference on Integration and Distributed Energy Resources – Toshiba Corporation 2010 (pdf),
NEDO/Los Alamos Collaborative Microgrid Research Project, Rafael De La Torre, June 15, 2011.
Los Alamos Smart Grid. Let the Demo Begin!
