Energy resilience — what does it take?

BY REED PARKER Williston Energy Committee

Resilience is the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. We can think of community resilience as our ability to dig out of major snowstorms or rebuild our roads following river flooding.

Currently, energy resilience is dependent on the proactive planning and tireless efforts of local electric utility companies, and the overall reliability of the New England power grid. With heartbreaking climate impacts happening across the country, and record-breaking damaging storms experienced in Vermont recently, how can Williston plan to become energy resilient, and ensure that the lights stay on?

One viable solution is a microgrid, which operates as part of the greater electric grid during typical situations but can disconnect and run independently in time of electrical disruption. Using proven technology, such as energy stored in batteries and solar panels to extend the battery life through recharging, the microgrid creates a protective power envelope for a community, enabling electrical generation, storage and distribution during a time when the greater grid is damaged and inoperable.

Let’s review two real life cases developed cooperatively with communities and our electric utility, Green Mountain Power (GMP).

Faced with the potential of becoming disconnected from its main source of electricity during a major storm, the Addison County town of Panton (population under 1,000) partnered with GMP to rethink how electricity is generated and distributed by creating a microgrid attached to a solar power plant. Engineering teams from GMP spent two years creating the first-in-thenation, fossil fuel-free microgrid for a distribution circuit in Panton.

A 50 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar field feeds power to a 4.9-megawatt storage battery, which becomes the main source of power if the greater grid is damaged in a storm or other emergency. Currently serving about 55 GMP customers, the Panton microgrid has the capability to expand to service 900 customers. Proving this scalability is key to GMP’s concept of a “Resiliency Zone.”

According to GMP, “a Resil - iency Zone is a community hub which can stay connected, even when the larger grid is damaged. Projects are customized to a town’s needs with technologies that can include energy storage, renewable power generation, power line undergrounding and see RESILIENCE page 12

WHAT: Online course

WHEN: Starting Sept. 1

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