Microgrids Still Working as Earthquakes Rattle Puerto Rico

by Elisa Wood, Microgrid Knowledge

With a large swath of Puerto Rico in the dark as a result of this week’s earthquake, there is some good news from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Microgrids in 10 schools are up and running.

The solar plus storage microgrids were recently installed by RMI, Save the Children and Kinesis Foundation. Built in remote regions, the microgrids offer sufficient battery and solar capacity to back up school libraries, administrative offices, kitchens, and critical water pumps indefinitely in the event of an outage.

“The grid is down but the systems are working,” said Roy Torbert, principal at RMI Islands Energy Program.

Puerto Rico schools were closed for the holiday when the earthquake struck, and they remain closed under government order until they can be inspected for structural safety. But RMI and Tesla, which supplied the microgrid batteries, were able to discern via remote monitoring systems that the microgrids are working. The monitoring systems, accessed by cell phone or computer, provide data on system performance.

The school microgrids were built in response to...Continue reading on Microgrid Knowledge.