Our team completed a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) glare study as well as provided design, construction and commissioning services for a microgrid serving the Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1’s office, data center and Clean Energy Technology Center in Arlington, Washington.
The site is adjacent to Arlington Municipal Airport, triggering the need for the glare study. The project includes seamless islanding and various dispatch modes using the Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) integrated into a distributed energy resources (DER) management scheduling system. Commissioning was completed, successfully vetting the system’s ability to transition to an islanded state when the utility connection is lost, providing resilient power for critical assets.
The 500-kW ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) facility connected to the microgrid was accelerated for early delivery to take advantage of a Washington state incentive program. It is installed and operational as a community solar program. An early site development package was also issued for the installation of underground conduit, site grading and preparation. The microgrid DER, interconnecting switchgear, equipment and controls were bid out and selected.
Project goals focused on grid resiliency and disaster recovery, calling for island operation of the facility in support of data center operations. The integration of PV solar generation and a battery energy storage system (BESS) provide grid support, along with electric vehicle (EV) charging capabilities.