Milford Awarded Funding for Microgrid Project

The state Bond Commission approved $5.1 million for the creation of two microgrid projects in Bridgeport and Milford, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced today.

In July 2013, nine microgrid projects were awarded $18 million as part of the first round of grants under DEEP’s Microgrid Program.

Each microgrid project is designed to provide power for government services and businesses that are critical during extreme weather events, such as police, fire, emergency response teams, shelters, dining facilities, state and town emergency response centers, grocery stores, and gas stations.

• Milford – Power will be provided to the Parsons Government Center, middle school, senior center, senior housing and city hall. The middle school and senior center will be available as shelters for residents during a power outage. The DEEP microgrid grant will provide about $2.9 million in funding for eligible design, engineering and interconnection infrastructure costs. The microgrid will be powered by (2) 148kW natural gas CHP units, 120kW of PV and a 100kW battery energy storage system.

The funding comes as part of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) innovative Microgrid Program, which was created by legislation Governor Malloy signed in 2013 and designed to increase public safety and quality-of-life for Connecticut residents during electric grid outage situations caused by natural disasters or other emergency situations.

“Just this week, our state was hit with another severe weather event that threatened our electric grid. While we were fortunate to experience relatively few outages during this most recent weather event, we must be prepared to provide critical support and services to our residents when the lights do go out – and microgrid projects can help us do just that,” Malloy said in a press release.

Microgrids provide electricity to critical facilities and town centers on a 24/7 daily basis and include a system to isolate the microgrid so it can provide power even when there is a large-scale outage.

Image via Shutterstock

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