Solar Village Microgrid

The Solar Village Living laboratory microgrid was installed in 2014 as part of the  the Missouri S&T Industrial Consortium. The  consortium provided the funding  and additonal companies  (Milbank Manufacturing and  A123 Battery Systems)  provided the batteries and Intelligent control system   to install and operate the microgrid which powers the four student designed solar homes and the Ev charging station.

Goal

Answer the questions of the future of energy development in the avenues of technology effectiveness, social engagement, and economic scale and feasability.

Allow S&T researchers and industry partners to analyze and control aspects of the microgrid to match the needs of the next generation of energy research.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• 60 kWH Lithium Ion batteries by A123 Systems
• Synapse 6 Smart Swith Gear Controller by Milbank Manufacturing
• Bi-directional Inverter 60kW by Dynapower

EcoVillage Microgrid

The EcoVillage Living laboratory  microgrids constist of two power management buildings and two high-tech solar homes that act as ”living laboratories”.  The microgrid project 's duration is 2018 – 2021 and will allow research on the performance of advanced lead batteries in a small solar-based microgrid and in the economic aspects of sharing energy at the at the peer to peer level as in the neighborrod of the future.

The Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) has joined other members of the Missouri S&T Microgrid Industrial Consortium to provide resources for the construction of an advanced lead battery microgrid at the Missouri S&T EcoVillage.

Goal

The demonstration microgrid will allow research on the performance of advanced lead batteries in a small solar-based microgrid and on the economic aspects of sharing energy at the local/neighborhood level.  

Current Missouri S&T Microgrid Industrial Consortium Partners ALABC and members NorthStar Battery and EnersysDoe Run Co.AmerenMissouri Public Utility Alliance (MPUA)Missouri Department of Economic Development Division of Energy (MO DED)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Seven strings in parallel = 48V, 28 Cells, 67.5 kWhBattery racks and cabling from batteries to inverter Unique charge algorithms on how to control the batteries.

Installations local to each house installed on existing 240/120V 2-pole single-phase utility feed include:

Shed with poured-concrete pad Two Sunny Island 6kW inverters per house @ 12kWSunny Island inverters were installed downstream of the main panel via 2 single-pole 50A CBs (one for each single 6kW Sunny Island)Two-pole sub panel 100A based on 12kW max load from Sunny Island inverters and PV arraysRe-wiring of critical loads to be fed from the new sub-panel