SUCCESS STORIES
Education
Background
The high school’s gymnasium serves as an evacuation center for people affected by wildfires or power outages in nearby communities. It provides shelter for up to 2,700 people in the bleachers or accommodates 200 cots on the gym floor. The school had already installed solar panels and Tesla batteries to generate and store power, which could meet 85% of the campus’s daily energy needs. However, during a power outage, the school would draw more power than the system could provide, rendering it ineffective in such situations.
Solution
To address this issue, the decision was made to create a power island/microgrid. The utility company re-routed the existing circuitry, enabling the solar panels and Tesla batteries to directly power the gym during emergencies. Agave® was approached by Wildan and Tesla to engage and assist with the integration of technologies, providing expertise in microgrid controls.
Results
The implementation of the solution yielded the following outcomes:
- 1
Isolated resilient power supply to operate the gym during emergencies.
- 2
Reduced operational costs by utilizing onsite generation instead of relying solely onexternal power sources.
- 3
Enhanced the ability to serve the community by providing a resilient facility with available air conditioning and commissary services for emergency victims.
Conclusion
The creation of the power island/microgrid solution improved the clients gym’s capacity to function as an evacuation center during emergencies. By integrating solar panels, Tesla batteries, and Agave® microgrid controls, the gym became more self-reliant and capable of providing essential services to the community during power outages or wildfires. The project demonstrated the value of onsite energy generation and the importance of technology integration in enhancing the resilience of educational institutions and emergency response facilities.