Previous Work
Arco Seco Solar Power Project, Panama
Feasibility Study
Our work on the Arco Seco Solar Power Project has great relevance to share our experience as a strategic partner for distributed energy projects. The knowledge gained by the GPG Team during the Arco Seco Solar work includes not only Panama’s readiness for financially viable, grid-connected clean energy resources, but also Panama’s grid, ETESA, regulatory, economic, environmental and social structure. Our experience with the Arco Seco Solar Project means that Energy Storage System Projects pursued by our clients can be completed in an efficient approach and with a successful methodology.
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Project: Feasibility study for development first stage of a 40 MW Solar PV Project
Client: Arco Seco Solar Power Project, Panama
In 2017, Gateway Power Engineers, and our partner Wizard Engineering International Corp. (“GPG Team”), were awarded a contract from the USTDA to conduct a feasibility study for the Arco Seco Solar Power Project in Panama. The objective of the Arco Seco Solar project is to support the development of a 40 MW solar photovoltaic project in central Panama. The project would be built in four phases of 9.9MW each. This project is among the first Renewable Energy utility-scale projects in Panama.
The GPG Team’s feasibility study evaluated the technical, commercial, and environmental viability of the project, and our positive findings and recommendations indicated that it was appropriate to move forward to obtain financing and to secure all necessary legal and regulatory approvals for project implementation. The study validated site’s irradiation levels and geotechnical/topographical readiness, and produced a preliminary engineering design and an environmental impact assessment. The GPG Team determined that this project is cost-competitive with other generation in Panama, and that the project’s estimated Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Return on Investment (ROI) are positive.
Borrego Springs, California
Microgrid
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which is part of the Sempra Energy Group, is a very large and progressive utility in California. The relevance of this project experience to microgrid clients includes our detailed engineering work to evaluate the existing system, and the expertise of our team to make specific recommendations or modifications to the system, particularly in the areas of energy storage, solar, control, SCADA and automation. SDG&E was able to meet and exceed their original goals for this community microgrid and their stated 2014 Smart Grid Deployment Plan. This analysis by Gateway Power engineers was crucial to bringing the Borrego Springs community the resource adequacy, reliability, and resiliency that were the key objectives of SDG&E.
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Project: Borrego Springs Microgrid
Client: San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)
The Borrego Springs Microgrid project was the first utility-owned and operated grid-connected microgrid in the U.S. It has been in operation since 2014 and has proven its capability and value through multiple islanding demonstrations and operations. The community of Borrego Springs is in an isolated area in the Anza Borrego Desert with a full-time population of approximately 3000 residents. Borrego Springs is fed by a single radial transmission line and is susceptible to severe weather including high winds and flash floods.
SDG&E’s original Borrego Springs Microgrid Demonstration project initially included the
installation and integration of two 1.8 megawatt (MW) diesel generators, one 500 kilowatt
(kW)/1500 kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion substation energy storage unit and three 25
kW/50 kWh lithium-ion community energy storage units, a fault location, isolation and
service restoration system, an automated demand response system with pricing-based event capabilities, advanced communication and protection schemes, and a microgrid controller to support, control and monitoring of the microgrid. It has since been expanded to include 26 MW of local solar generation and an additional 1 MW/3 MWh of battery storage, and has successfully demonstrated its ability to island the entire community of Borrego Springs utilizing renewable energy resources as the major source of generation.
After developing the Digital Twin, GPG Engineers reviewed current power flow and overall
effectiveness of the microgrid utilizing time-series data and through a series of planned
facility-islanding tests. Working in partnership with SDG&E engineers, the team built
the digital twin model to analyze Advanced Power Flow and the economic and community
impact of the microgrid for different scenarios. Using the results of the power tests and the
economic and community impacts, GPG team developed recommendations for the integration of additional distributed energy resource assets, Automatic voltage/VAR control, and for the optimization of the current and future operation of the microgrid, including potential for increased grid reliability and stability, market participation, demand response, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and peak-demand shaving.
DC Water
Power Demand Overview and Scenarios
DC Water has been contracting with Gateway Power engineers for over ten years, and most recently engaged us to identify ways to increase on premise renewable generation. The GPG team assessed and recommended potential for providing islanding capability, should the main
utility become unstable or unavailable. The key objectives of this project were twofold: first, to increase the reliability of power; and, second, to reduce energy costs by selling energy back to the utility at times of excess production. The DC Water Blue Plains site is extremely mission critical as it provides all the drinking water and sewage treatment for the U.S. Capital in Washington D.C. This experience is relevant to share as experience for clients because we evaluated all aspects of the DC Water situation (regulatory requirements, energy needs, situational awareness, control and automation, energy storage, market participation, and economic analysis) in order to develop viable recommendations for improvement. Additionally, this work is relevant because we worked with state and local authorities on regulatory and rule-making initiatives to identify standards to allow for basic consistency of market rules between Government and Regional/Local agencies.
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Project: Power Demand Overview and Scenarios
Client: DC Water (Formerly DC Water and Sewer Authority (DCWASA))
DC Water operates the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWTP) located in Washington, D.C. The Blue Plains AWTP is the largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world.
In order to carry out its industrial processes, the Blue Plains AWTP receives electricity from
the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), and complements it with internal generation via biogas Combined Heat and Power Facility (CHP). Approximately one-third of the Blue Plains AWTP electrical demand is produced internally via the CHP.
Gateway Power engineers objective for this analysis was to evaluate the operation of the
electrical power distribution system at the Blue Plains AWTP under different generation-
demand scenarios, including permanent regime, short-circuit conditions, and in dynamic
conditions after the occurrence of contingencies. At the conclusion of this analysis, different recommendations were proposed to allow for a safe and reliable operation of the Blue Plains AWTP.
This analysis first evaluated the existing power demand condition of the plant, and then
examined various forms of supply—either through the current installed generation, imports from PEPCO, or the incorporation of new generation facilities.
Department of Defense - Navy
Secure Automated Microgrid Energy System
The team provided analysis, installation, integration, and final report to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense for the Secure Automated Microgrid Energy System (SAMES) project. Work completed has become the basis for the smart grid energy initiatives now being implemented by the U.S. Navy. The Navy has started to roll out these initiatives to the other branches of the U.S. armed services which also must maintain power readiness and availability. The process and findings are directly relevant to TSC experience value, particularly including the cybersecurity and integration with existing systems for control and optimization. Additionally, this work is relevant to Energy Storage System projects because we worked with state and local authorities on regulatory and rule-making initiatives to identify standards to allow for basic consistency of market rules between Government and Regional/Local agencies. This project is unique because it is the first microgrid cluster in the U.S. The mission of the team was to: first, assess three very large military bases; second, to model a cluster that included a community approach to stand-alone and shared power; and, third, to ensure this Smart Grid Roadmap could be utilized globally. The lessons we learned from this project, and our well-documented findings, will be a major asset to the ensuring credibility for the physical asset optimization of any project. A pdf version of the final report and cost and performance report is available here.
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Project: Secure Automated Microgrid Energy System (SAMES)
Client: Department of Defense - Navy (Environmental Security Technology Certification Program – “ESTCP”)
The objective of SAMES is the creation and operation of a secure microgrid cluster. The cluster maximizes energy security and efficiency at the lowest possible operating cost. The microgrids are at three geographically separate naval bases in San Diego, with their monitoring and control combined in an enterprise-level system at the Naval Base San Diego Utility and Energy Operations Center. This is the first instance of the creation of a centrally managed cluster of microgrids in a cyber-secure military environment. It will improve energy security, reduce costs, and fully integrate renewable energy sources into a base electrical infrastructure.
The technology is a tightly integrated architecture of software and specific hardware nodes
attached to generation and load on a cyber-secure backbone. The four key technology
elements of the system are: a unique power management and modeling platform, a second-order energy optimization platform, a scalable time-series data management system, and a cyber-secure architecture in which cyber is designed in, not added on.
The cluster, which includes microgrids on Naval Bases San Diego, Coronado and Point
Loma, will optimize the distributed generation and storage and shadow the market for buying and selling of power across the cluster. The project demonstrates that it is feasible for military organizations to use clustered microgrids to manage their energy use, maximize the value of their renewable energy sources, and participate in the lucrative energy markets without compromising their mission readiness. Success will be measured in increased electrical system reliability and reduced overall energy cost. Success will also be measured by the optimization of renewable energy sources and the increased situational awareness, operational control, and automation of the power system in real time—all of which will improve overall power system performance. Note that the team considered and achieved all federal and state regulatory requirements for this project.
Mojave Solar, Califonia
Solar Thermal Plant Safety Analysis
The Mojave Solar plant analysis by Gateway Power engineers is a focused example of the concurrent approach to power modeling and availability, with the economic analysis required to meet the terms and conditions of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between the U.S. Department of Energy and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The relevance to share as experience of Gateway Power Group includes the use of a variant of solar technology (solar thermal), integrated into the macro grid. This is yet another alternative that has been evaluated by Gateway Power professional services utilizing the Digital Twin solution. The Department of Energy has benefitted greatly from this work. The experience gained in the use of variant solar, and in our communications with the suppliers of this technology to include the mathematical specificity required by Mohave Solar, will be of great value to the Energy Storage System project strategy and evaluation process.
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Project: Solar Thermal Plant Safety Assessments
Client: Mojave Solar
Local Partner: Abengoa
The Mojave Solar plant is a 280MW utility-scale solar thermal electric plant located about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, near Barstow, CA. The plant is owned by Atlantics Yield, and is operated by Abengoa, an international sustainable power developer, with offices in the U.S. The financing for this plant was facilitated by a $1.2B loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy. The plant became operational in December 2014, and the output is sold to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) through a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
Gateway Power engineers were the primary electrical engineering consultant for the Abengoa Mojave Solar plant from March 2014 – December 2018. Our engineers completed multiple discrete power engineering projects for this plant, including in-depth safety assessments during its construction, commissioning, and daily operations. Our services included:
Modeling the power system, using our Digital Twin solution
Performing simulations and studies, including power flow, protective relay coordination studies (including coordination improvement of prior vendor studies), device settings’ review and improvement, short circuit analysis, and arc flash analysis of both the plant systems and the solar field equipment
Updating electrical one-line diagrams, schematics, and management dashboards and reports.
The Gateway Power professional engineers, utilizing the Digital Twin, enabled the owners of the Mojave Solar plant to meet all the safety specifications of the California Bureau Veritas during plant construction, and all necessary approvals of the California PUC when this facility was being commissioned.