Microgrids across the five boroughs of New York City
Other microgrids are being built as a result of the RISE program, including projects by Bright Power, Go Electric, Local Office Landscape, and Urban Design. All have contracts, signed in 2016, to design and install building scale microgrids for Sandy-impacted small businesses across the five boroughs of New York City, NYEDC spokesman Chris Singleton said via email. Most of the projects are located in coastal areas of Brooklyn and Queens, such as Red Hook, Coney Island and the Rockaways.
While most of the New York City projects are still in the design phase, Bright Power is in the process of building two RISE funded projects in Brooklyn. The company is installing microgrids at Linda Tool and at Banner Smoked Fish.
Resilient power hubs
The microgrids, which Bright Power refers to as resilient power hubs are small-scale hybrid power plants that provide buildings with instantaneous back-up power to critical systems when the grid goes down, as well as energy savings the rest of the time. The system can operate as part of or independent from the utility grid. The technology combines solar photovoltaics, cogeneration and energy storage.
The Linda Tool microgrid consists of a 7 kW solar array, a 10 kW cogeneration unit and a 48 kWh energy storage system with an 18 kW inverter. The Banner Smoked Fish microgrid consists of an 11 kW solar array, a 10 kW cogeneration unit and a 60 kWh energy storage system with a 30 kW inverter.
Bright Power says its first fully operational resilient power hub was turned on earlier this year at a 126-unit supportive and affordable housing property in the Bronx, owned by Community Access. Another is being designed into a 380-unit affordable housing property in Queens developed by Omni New York.
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