City of Buffalo (DPW Downtown District)
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79 - City of Buffalo (DPW Downtown District) December 2016 Notice The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (hereafter “NYSERDA”) or the State of New York, and reference to any specific product, service, process, or method does not constitute an implied or expressed recommendation or endorsement of it. Further, NYSERDA, the State of New York, and the contractor make no warranties or representations, expressed or implied, as to the fitness for particular purpose or merchantability of any product, apparatus, or service, or the usefulness, completeness, or accuracy of any processes, methods, or other information contained, described, disclosed, or referred to in this report. NYSERDA, the State of New York, and the contractor make no representation that the use of any product, apparatus, process, method, or other information will not infringe privately owned rights and will assume no liability for any loss, injury, or damage resulting from, or occurring in connection with, the use of information contained, described, disclosed, or referred to in this report. NYSERDA makes every effort to provide accurate information about copyright owners and related matters in the reports we publish. Contractors are responsible for determining and satisfying copyright or other use restrictions regarding the content of reports that they write, in compliance with NYSERDA’s policies and federal law. If you are the copyright owner and believe a NYSERDA report has not properly attributed your work to you or has used it without permission, please email [email protected] ii City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study Task 5 Report Prepared for City of Buffalo, Department of Public Works, Parks and Streets In Support of NY Prize Community Grid Competition: Stage 1 Feasibility Study With Consulting Team Contributions from: Submitted to: Infrastructure Energy (formerly E Co.) 23823 Malibu Rd. Suite 50423 Malibu, CA 90265 Submitted by: Navigant Consulting, Inc. 77 S. Bedford St. Suite 400 Burlington, MA 01803 781.270.8300 www.navigant.com Reference No.: 187520 December 5, 2016 City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... i Disclaimer ...................................................................................................................... 1 Task 5: Final Report ...................................................................................................... 2 Background and Organization of the Report ....................................................................................... 2 Observations and Findings .................................................................................................................. 2 Microgrid Capabilities and Configuration ................................................................................... 2 Benefits and Value .................................................................................................................... 3 Roadblocks, Challenges, and Potential Solutions ..................................................................... 3 Additional Information to Be Developed .................................................................................... 5 Lessons Learned ....................................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 8 Appendix A: Task 1 – Description of Microgrid Capabilities ............................................................ A-i Appendix B: Task 2 – Develop Preliminary Technical Design Costs and Configuration ................. B-i Appendix C: Task 3 – Assessment of Microgrid’s Commercial and Financial Feasibility ................ C-i Appendix D: Task 4 – Develop Information for Benefit Cost Analysis ............................................. D-i City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study NY Prize Community Grid Competition: Stage 1 Feasibility Study NYSERDA Report: Task 5 Page i City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study DISCLAIMER This report was prepared by Navigant Consulting, Inc. (Navigant) for Infrastructure Energy (formerly Energizing, LLC), solely for use by Infrastructure Energy and the City of Buffalo, Department of Public Works to meet the City of Buffalo, Department of Public Works’ obligation under New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Agreement No. 66635 “NY PRIZE RFP 3044 Stage 1 Feasibility Assessment”. The work presented in this report represents Navigant’s professional judgment based on the information available at the time this report was prepared. Navigant is not responsible for the reader’s use of, or reliance upon, the report, nor any decisions based on the report. NAVIGANT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. Readers of the report are advised that they assume all liabilities incurred by them, or third parties, as a result of their reliance on the report, or the data, information, findings and opinions contained in the report. City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study NY Prize Community Grid Competition: Stage 1 Feasibility Study NYSERDA Report: Task 5 Page 1 City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study TASK 5: FINAL REPORT Background and Organization of the Report This feasibility study was conducted by the City of Buffalo (COB) under an NY Prize Community Grid Competition – Stage 1 grant award. It consists of a description and assessment of an electric microgrid in the downtown Buffalo area that is documented within five task reports. The core feasibility study is organized according to the four core technical content tasks of the NY Prize Stage 1 Feasibility Assessment requirements, which are listed below: Task 1. Description of Microgrid Capabilities Task 2. Develop Preliminary Technical Design Costs and Configuration Task 3. Assessment of Microgrid’s Commercial and Financial Feasibility Task 4. Develop Information for Benefit Cost Analysis The work performed under each of these core tasks is summarized and detailed in a separate report, all of which are found in Appendices A-D of this Task 5 Final Report. Each core task report describes the assumptions used in the analysis and assessment. The input data, methodologies, and tools used for modeling in Tasks 2 and 4 are also outlined in those reports. Observations and Findings Microgrid Capabilities and Configuration As proposed, the microgrid would incorporate all of the minimum capabilities spelled out in Task 1. All of the “preferable” capabilities will be incorporated as well, with several qualifications: • Beyond delivery of premium resiliency for a fee, the innovative services that would be offered to end use customers will depend on the customer needs and interests that are to be identified during a later development stage of the project. • The baseline design of the microgrid will not include carbon-free energy. However, the microgrid controller will be capable of incorporating customer-owned distributed energy resources (DERs), including carbon-free generation resources (e.g., photovoltaic power (PV), biodiesel power generation, or wind energy). This would be combined with information services that provide customers the opportunity to interact with the grid in an optimal manner. The proposed microgrid possesses two unusual characteristics worthy of note: 1. Unlike most microgrids, which contain a group of buildings in a campus-like arrangement that operates in parallel with the grid, the buildings powered by the COB microgrid are directly fed by the utility feeder in both grid-connected and islanded modes. The customers purchase power from the utility under normal conditions and would purchase power from the microgrid during an outage. To form an island, the microgrid would use a point of common coupling on the utility feeder, somewhere “upstream” of the generation site, as well as at least one islanding point on the “downstream” side. Customers isolated by the downstream point(s) of islanding would only get their power restored when the microgrid reconnects with grid power and reopens those islanding points. City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study NY Prize Community Grid Competition: Stage 1 Feasibility Study NYSERDA Report: Task 5 Page 2 City of Buffalo Downtown Energy District Feasibility Study 2. The City’s district heating plant, which is co-located with the Fire Headquarters, is incorporated into the microgrid, but only as a load and not a generating resource. Except for the Fire Headquarters, the district heating customers are, in fact, located on a highly reliable secondary (mesh) network, rather than the radial-type network on which the microgrid resides. Benefits and Value The primary benefit for microgrid customers will be added resilience in the face of power grid outages. For customers that offer services, this resilience will help them avoid service-related losses that would occur without the microgrid’s backup power. If a customer has backup generation with a limited fuel supply, the microgrid will enable the customer’s generator to serve as a second level of resilience and it will overcome the fuel storage limitations. Customers may prefer the