Friday, October 11, 2019

USA, California: Opinion - Small Microgrids Will Leave the Lights On for You!

Distributed Energy Resources: A Solution To PG&E’s Sweeping PowerBlackouts

By: Lisa Kuscu (208-251-2134) Email: lisa@warnermountainenergy.com and Curtis Rose (775-527-3345) Email: curt@warnermountainenergy.com, of Warner Mountain Energy Corporation

Pacific Gas and Electric’s sweeping energy blackout affecting more than 2 million people has Warner Mountain Energy Corporation, a Cedarville, CA renewable energy development company, thinking “we have distributed energy resource opportunities in Modoc County’s backyard, let’s put it to use.  Distributed energy resources are the solution to California’s blackouts”.  Distributed energy generation is when electricity is generated from sources near the point of use instead of from centralized large-scale power plants.
  
California’s vast electricity blackouts should be a wake-up call for all of Californian’s to use the renewable resources we have at our disposal.  Geothermal is one of these resources so abundant in the state and is available 24/7. Warner Mountain Energy’s recent geothermal exploration drilling just revealed that “drilling for geothermal in Modoc County is like drilling into a geothermal ocean” according to Richard Holt, Reservoir Engineer. 

What is reliable energy worth to us?  Ask someone who is dependent on insulin.  Ask someone who can’t get to work because their car is out of fuel and the pumps are shut down.  Ask a local business who is losing significant revenue who is shut down.

Distributed energy generation is playing an increasingly important role in the nation’s energy portfolio by supplementing centralized power facilities.  Localized energy sources can help with baseload power, peaking power, energy security, resiliency and more.  It can come online faster and less expensively because it does not need large-scale transmission upgrades.

Project sign for California Energy Commission
Geothermal Distributed Energy Resource project.
U.S. Department of Energy, California Energy Commission, and Modoc County are launching initiatives to do exactly this.  It takes everyone working together, including private companies like Warner Mountain Energy, to make this happen.  The California Energy Commission has funded a demonstration project on Warner Mountain Energy site in the Surprise Valley in Cedarville, Modoc County.

“This California power disruption should serve as a focusing event for the state to invest in local renewable energy sources, like the state’s abundant geothermal, that would turn neighborhoods into small microgrids that will offer energy security” said Chester Robertson, Modoc County Administrative Officer.

Small microgrids will leave the lights on for you!



Hot water heat exchangers in Warner Mountain Energy boiling hot spring for California Energy Commission Geothermal Energy Distributed Energy Demonstration project in Cedarville, California

Copper coiled tubing being used for hot and cold heat
exchange for distributed geothermal energy system.

Cold water heat exchangers being installed in cooling pond for California Energy Commission Geothermal Energy Distributed Energy Demonstration project in Cedarville, California