Miramar Microgrid - Flight Line Resilience through Landfill Gas and Energy Storage

MCAS Miramar will significantly enhance its DoD-funded microgrid with the addition of new components, controls, and capabilities. Key upgrades are a battery energy storage system and limiting of demand from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

The Regents of California, San Diego

Recipient

La Jolla, CA

Recipient Location

38th

Senate District

77th

Assembly District

beenhere

$518,693

Amount Spent

refresh

Active

Project Status

Download Project

Project Update

During 2024, microgrid equipment was completely installed, including commissioning and functional testing of the battery energy storage system. The project team tested and verified the ability for the microgrid to transition between grid-tied and islanded modes as well as black start capability. Additional data collection and performance validation is planned for 2025.

The Issue

Miramar Marine Base is a critical military facility that requires energy reliability and resiliency for mission critical operations. The Base's availability of intermittent biogas generators can meet the electrical demand. However, the generators can be interrupted with the inconsistent flow of landfill biogas. When this happens, the electrical power is switched to fossil gas generators that can take considerable starting time to fully power up the Base and impact the Base's ability to reduce fossil fuel use. The microgrid and storage batteries envisioned by Base operations will help mitigate this issue while also increasing energy reliability and resiliency.

Project Innovation

This project will demonstrate a microgrid at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It will incorporate distributed energy resources including: biogas generators, solar PV, battery energy storage, and electric vehicles. When operational, the microgrid will help maintain critical flight line facilities during grid outages and facilitate higher renewable generation from landfill gas (LFG) generators.

Project Benefits

This project is incorporating a large-scale battery storage system, as well as advanced demand response controls, into a very complex microgrid with a heavy penetration of renewables and over 100 buildings worth of load. Energy storage will allow the microgrid to incorporate higher penetrations of renewable landfill power in island mode, while mitigating demand charges in economic mode, saving money for the Base. This project will address critical challenges associated with instantaneous power loss from the biogas generators by using microgrid controlled distributed energy resources. Furthermore, project findings will be relevant to landfill gas generation facilities, wastewater treatment plants with biogas generation, as well as hospitals, ports, and military bases.

Miramar Microgrid - Flight Line Resilience through Landfill Gas and Energy Storage

Project Update

The Issue

Project Innovation

Project Benefits

Contact the Team

POWERING THE MISSION: MCAS MIRAMAR MICROGRID BRIGHTENS THE FUTURE DURING STEEL KNIGHT

Miramar Microgrid - Flight Line Resilience through Landfill Gas and Energy Storage

Project Update

The Issue

Project Innovation

Project Benefits

Contact the Team

POWERING THE MISSION: MCAS MIRAMAR MICROGRID BRIGHTENS THE FUTURE DURING STEEL KNIGHT

Related Projects

Assessment of Potentially Deleterious Effect of Geologic Carbon Sequestration Operations on Groundwater Quality

Parallel-Series Multi-Mode Class-4 CNG-PHEV

Enabling Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Demand Response and Energy Efficiency with a Community Based Master Controller-Optimizer