Under the contract, Alstom will research and design community microgrid systems for the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) and the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD).
Alstom is one of seven organizations to secure $8m funding for microgrid project from the DOE.
In addition to supporting President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the project aims to improve power grid resiliency in the US and help critical facilities, communities and cities better prepare for potential electricity disruptions.
Alstom will combind its energy management and substation automation technology to provide a comprehensive end-to-end microgrid controller system (MGCS) prototype which includes microgrid islanding, synchronization and reconnection, protection, voltage frequency, power quality management and system resiliency to PWD and PIDC.
The funding will be used to perform research, development and testing of advanced microgrid controllers which can manage and control microgrid systems to enhance viability, reliability and resiliency of the electric distribution grid.
The demonstration project will be implemented at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the 1,200-acre former naval shipyard which is now transformed into a business campus.
A part of the campus will be self-sufficient in generating, managing and storing electricity and can operate independently from the main grid in case of an outage due to extreme weather or other extraordinary events.
