UC San Diego is a campus-wide living laboratory for sustainable energy
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Last week I attended Procopio’s Environmental Breakfast Club held on the UC San Diego campus. Under John Lormon’s direction the speakers began with some comments about the differences between smartgrid and microgrid. Byron Washom, Director of Strategic Energy Initiatives, UC San Diego gave an update on the status of the sophisticated microgrid being built on the ever-expanding seaside campus. Much has been accomplished with more to come. The UC San Diego system demonstrates the advantages of an intelligent energy system designed for increased efficiency, security and sustainability. Environmental sustainability at UC San Diego is a real-world learning experience serving the dual purposes of advancing the base of knowledge and saving the university millions of dollars in operating expenses.
About the UCSD microgrid Forbes magazine said, “First light for what the new smart grid architecture will look like is already visible”. It is an integral part of a much larger campus community effort. Click to learn about Sustainability 2.0, A Living Laboratory. Click here for Byron Washom’s presentation, Local Impact, National Influence, Global Reach.
My favorite educational experience has always been show and tell. We were treated to a tour of the campus for a first-hand look at the key components of the evolving energy system. On the very day we were there the largest full cell on any college campus was being activated for the first time. Manufactured by FuelCell Energy, Inc., the 2.8-megawatt fuel cell will provide about 8% of UC San Diego’s total energy needs. In conjunction with the City of San Diego and Encinitas-based BioFuels Energy, the renewable-energy project will turn waste methane gas from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant directly into electricity without combustion.
Directly opposite the site of the huge fuel cell are two impressively large solar arrays designed and fabricated by Soitec and installed on the campus for evaluation. The first solar installation was a progressive step which led to San Diego Gas & Electric signing contracts with Soitec for 125 megawatts of solar power. The second is the fifth generation of Soitec’s concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system which will generate about five times more electricity with a fractionally larger footprint.
The new system consists of 12 CPV modules, each generating more than 2 kW of peak power. For this new product, Soitec has reconfigured its Concentrix modules to reduce the number of parts per CPV system, making installation in the field simpler and faster. By leveraging the field-proven CPV cells, high concentration ratio and silicone-on-glass Fresnel lens construction used in previous generations of Concentrix products, the new system delivers the same high reliability and life expectancy.
Soitec’s two-axis-tracking CPV systems are well suited for installation sites with high direct solar radiation. The systems produce a high, constant power output curve throughout the day and are able to match peak-load demands.
Soitec has begun shipping demonstration units to project sites. Plans call for volume production to ramp in the first quarter of 2012 at the company’s manufacturing facility in Freiburg, Germany, and later at Soitec’s planned new factory in San Diego.
The last photo is of the partially completed, fifth generation Soitec CPV system on the UC San Diego campus as of October 12, 2011.
