Middletown Gets $150K BPU Grant To Study Microgrid Feasibility

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — If you happen to live along Rt. 36 near Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, you may one day have your own power grid.

That's because Middletown Township was recently awarded a $150,000 grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to examine the feasibility of building an electric microgrid in that area.

Middletown announced the news Monday: The Township applied for, and received, a $150,000 grant from the state to be used on a Microgrid Phase 1 Feasibility Study. Middletown will use the money to hire a range of architects, engineers and designers who will look into whether a DER (Distributed Energy Resource) microgrid is appropriate for that area.

"We're looking to create this around Navel Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo. It's an important base and we need to keep it viable in power outages," Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger said Tuesday. "It's cutting-edge technology that helps avoid large-scale power outages. It makes it easier to keep the power on in certain areas."

Here's how an electric microgrid works:

A team establishes a certain boundary area within a community. The utility provider — in Middletown's case, Jersey Central Power & Light — would then likely build a standalone sub-station within that zone. That station provides an independent source of power to the zone, so it is unaffected by regional, large-scale outages. In other words, the lights stay on, said Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante.

"The microgrid would likely be built in the vicinity of Earle property along Rt. 36. We would then connect the grid to Earle, to public schools in the area, to the sewage treatment plant nearby and possibly the Middletown Township building," he said. "We would also definitely connect it to traffic lights along Rt. 36."

"We won't need to have police officers manned at every intersection along Highway 36 and traffic lights out for days, like we did during Sandy," said Mayor Scharfenberger.

Middletown may even try to link in the flood control gates currently being built in Port Monmouth.

The Leonardo microgrid is in its infancy stages. Middletown just got the grant money this week, and the Township Committee will next put out a request for proposals for firms to do the study. The BPU awarded 11 of these grants across the state; Montclair is another town currently doing a similar microgrid study.

The feasibility study itself takes 12 months to complete, and then the grid actually has to be built, which can take months and millions of dollars.

"This is something that's a few years away from reality," said Mercantante. "But, we have to start somewhere."

Is this connected to JCP&L's power line plans for Middletown?

No, said Mayor Scharfenberger. Building a microgrid would not involve monopoles or large-scale electric lines, which are things JCP&L wants to build with their controversial Monmouth County Reliability Project (MCRP). Middletown, along with Hazlet, Holmdel and Aberdeen, is currently fighting JCP&L's proposal in court.

"Some of the new power lines would be underground; some would be above ground," said Mercantante. "They would likely use the existing telephone poles. They may have to build some new power lines, but it would be minor. There will be no large-scale monopoles."

In fact, JCP&L supports the microgrid idea and Middletown even included a letter of support from JCP&L in their application to the BPU, Mercantante said.

"It's just a coincidence we applied for this while that was going on," said Scharfenberger. "We view this as being proactive to improve the grid and being on a constant quest for the new and best technology for our residents."

But Middletown did begin exploring the microgrid idea after JCP&L resurrected the MCRP. JCP&L says the monopoles are necessary to improve electricity in the area.

Could the eventual creation of a Leonardo microgrid mean JCP&L may abandon their idea to build monopoles in the Bayshore?

"One could only hope," said Mayor Scharfenberger.

Photo via Morguefile