Princeton Power Systems has celebrated the two-year operation of its commercial scale microgrid system on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, US.
The New Jersey energy storage company installed 400kW of solar panels on the roof of the former San Francisco prison on the island and integrated the PV system with a 400kW lead-acid battery bank, two diesel generators, controllers and inverters. The system meets 60% of the island’s electricity demand.
“Instead of using the solar power to charge the batteries and then batteries to supply the load, the solar power is generated directly into the grid, and the batteries are directly attached to the AC grid,” said Darren Hammell co-founder and CSO of Princeton Power Systems. This method should give the batteries a longer service life and more control over the charging process. According to the company, the system reduces 80% of the island’s carbon emissions.
Princeton Power Systems has won this year’s Intersolar North America Award for the project.
The company announced recently that it entered a cooperation with hybrid ion battery manufacturer Aquion for a microgrid project at Aquion’s headquarters in Pennsylvania.