Microgrid and renewable generation integration: University of California, San Diego

This paper is a microgrid study of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), a large campus with diverse distributed energy resources (DER). It highlights a microgrid’s “missing money”, which sharply differs from a natural-gas-fired generation plant’s “missing money” due to large-scale wind generation development. In response to UCSD’s expressed financial interest, we assess three strategies for integrating renewable generation: peak load shifting, onsite photovoltaic firming and grid support. While all three strategies are technically feasible and can be cost-effective under certain conditions, California’s current tariff structures and market prices do not offer sufficient incentives to motivate UCSD to offer these services. Alternative incentive mechanisms, which may resemble to those used to encourage renewable generation development, are necessary to induce UCSD’s DER offer for renewables integration. Such mechanisms are also relevant to commercial and industrial loads across California, including the vast combined heat and power resources.

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