“The Smart Grid should be able to look at our load, look at the cost of power to meet that load, and come up with either the one or the mixture of power sources to supply that load so that theoretically, we’re paying less for energy at any given point in time,” says Lyda. “This grid will literally be able to think,” adds Marques Russell, electrical engineer at the base Public Works Department.

Problem spotting

The system will be linked for two-way communication and control to multiple base facilities, including seven electrical substations and numerous building energy management control systems (EMCS), to instigate load shedding schemes as needed. The increased integration is expected to pay benefits in improved reliability, says Morrissett. “We’ll be able to see where the loads actually are, so if we have a problem—maybe a transformer that’s taking too much load—we’ll be able to react to that before there’s a larger problem.”

In the end, Morrissett says he is hoping that the smart microgrid project will lead to energy system savings in the range of 10 percent for the base. “And as our system grows, we’ll be incorporating it into whatever new generation that we get into,” he adds, “so it’s going to be a very well-used system.” 

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