GridLogic A Turnkey Microgrid-as-a-Service Solution A microgrid is a small scale energy system that uses distributed energy resources (DERs) to balance local needs. It can operate either in conjunction with, or independently of, the utility grid if the grid is unavailable. SolarCity GridLogic is a turnkey energy solution for communities to obtain the complete benefit of traditional microgrids backed by the strength and experience that has made SolarCity America’s #1 full-service distributed energy provider. SolarCity GridLogic provides our best-in-class technology, financing, installation and ongoing services to deliver a comprehensive energy management solution. Our in-house team of experts and local installers will take care of your entire project from start to finish, and support the operations of your microgrid for the life of the system. As with all SolarCity products, GridLogic comes with an innovative payment structure designed to suit your needs, including programs with little to no up-front costs. GridLogic enables your community to have clean, affordable and resilient energy without changing your daily system operations. Key Benefits Clean SolarCity extends its leadership in clean energy to the microgrid, where your community can experience the benefits of renewable energy day and night. Affordable Our innovative financing options can be structured to fit your needs, while our dynamic and real-time control algorithms ensure that your microgrid is always operating to maximize your energy savings. Resilient Our distributed energy architecture provides the dependable backup power you need to keep critical facilities running when the utility grid is down. Customer Solutions Municipalities Utilize clean, affordable energy while ensuring that your critical facilities such as police stations, emergency operations centers, grocery stores and gas stations are fully powered when you need them most. Remote Communities Hedge against high energy costs while operating through grid outages. Campuses Backup your most critical facilities to ensure that your key personnel can continue their work when it’s needed most. Military Bases Rely on local, secure and reliable energy delivery for mission-critical operations, while drawing more from clean sources. KEY FEATURES Turnkey Design, Financing and Operations In-house engineering and design to provide a tailored solution Innovative financing, including little to no upfront costs Seamless installation, commissioning, operations and support Dynamic Monitoring and Control Highly flexible monitoring and control platform optimizes assets locally while centrally coordinating overall system Real-time forecasting of all generation assets and consumption Energy optimization engine maximizes overall energy savings Islanding mode delivers critical power while maintaining local power quality Scalable Platform Incorporates any pre-existing, new and future distributed energy resources Lightweight yet robust communications platform Resident Billing and Engagement Full-service system for setting rates, billing and reporting Web and mobile tools to engage and empower participants of your microgrid
10
Embed
GridLogic - Solar – Solar Energy Efficiency | SolarCity Control Capabilities GridLogic is deployed with dynamic control capabilities that monitor real-time grid conditions and make
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
A microgrid is a small scale energy system that uses distributed energy resources
(DERs) to balance local needs. It can operate either in conjunction with,
or independently of, the utility grid if the grid is unavailable.
SolarCity GridLogic is a turnkey energy solution for communities to obtain the complete
benefit of traditional microgrids backed by the strength and experience that has made
SolarCity America’s #1 full-service distributed energy provider. SolarCity GridLogic
provides our best-in-class technology, financing, installation and ongoing services to
deliver a comprehensive energy management solution.
Our in-house team of experts and local installers will take care of your entire project from
start to finish, and support the operations of your microgrid for the life of the system.
As with all SolarCity products, GridLogic comes with an innovative payment structure
designed to suit your needs, including programs with little to no up-front costs.
GridLogic enables your community to have clean, affordable and resilient energy
without changing your daily system operations.
Key Benefits
� Clean SolarCity extends its leadership in clean energy to the microgrid, where your
community can experience the benefits of renewable energy day and night.
� Affordable Our innovative financing options can be structured to fit your needs,
while our dynamic and real-time control algorithms ensure that your microgrid is
always operating to maximize your energy savings.
� Resilient Our distributed energy architecture provides the dependable backup power
you need to keep critical facilities running when the utility grid is down.
Customer Solutions
� Municipalities Utilize clean, affordable energy while ensuring that your critical facilities
such as police stations, emergency operations centers, grocery stores and gas stations
are fully powered when you need them most.
� Remote Communities Hedge against high energy costs while operating through
grid outages.
� Campuses Backup your most critical facilities to ensure that your key personnel can
continue their work when it’s needed most.
� Military Bases Rely on local, secure and reliable energy delivery for mission-critical
operations, while drawing more from clean sources.
K E Y F E AT U R E S
Turnkey Design, Financing and Operations
� In-house engineering and design toprovide a tailored solution
� Innovative financing, including little tono upfront costs
� Seamless installation, commissioning,operations and support
Dynamic Monitoring and Control
� Highly flexible monitoring and controlplatform optimizes assets locally whilecentrally coordinating overall system
� Real-time forecasting of all generationassets and consumption
� Energy optimization engine maximizesoverall energy savings
� Islanding mode delivers critical powerwhile maintaining local power quality
Scalable Platform
� Incorporates any pre-existing, new andfuture distributed energy resources
� Lightweight yet robustcommunications platform
Resident Billing and Engagement
� Full-service system for setting rates,billing and reporting
� Web and mobile tools to engage andempower participants ofyour microgrid
GridLogic is a turnkey solution for communities to obtain dependable, reliable, clean and affordable energy in a single service that includes the deployment, operations and financing of microgrids.
Turnkey Design, Operations and MaintenanceSolarCity makes adoption simple. Our in-house teams will design,
install and maintain your microgrid. Once operational, our service
integrates, optimizes and dispatches a diverse portfolio of DERs,
including solar, energy storage, controllable loads and conventional
generation while balancing the use of utility power to meet your
full energy profile. In addition, GridLogic provides you with tools
that make billing simple and promote engagement among the
participants of the microgrid.
Financing
SolarCity makes GridLogic affordable and simple by offering both
pay-as-you-go and an upfront capital purchase models.
The monthly payments or total costs are calculated by performing
an assessment of your proposed system. Our team will analyze
your load profile to determine your consumption by day, evening
and peak hours. Our team will also evaluate the capabilities of
your existing DERs and distribution system. That assessment is
balanced with your overall objective, be it lowest costs, maximum
duration of backup power or something else.
Scalable Architecture
GridLogic is a scalable solution that can be deployed in multiple
scenarios, from individual buildings to entire communities.
Communications Platform
GridLogic is equipped with a flexible and robust communications
platform that monitors and manages all DERs on your microgrid.
The platform is designed to be lightweight and secure to
ensure reliable communication with all DERs, monitoring and
control equipment. Communications are maintained through a
combination of wired and wireless telecommunications links.
Dynamic Control Algorithms
GridLogic leverages dynamic control algorithms that monitor,
optimize and control your DERs. Each DER is monitored and
controlled locally using distributed intelligence, yet coordinated
through a central system. These algorithms utilize real-time
monitoring data, dynamic forecasts for DER and load, grid
parameters and constraints to deliver dependable energy service.
storage, conventional generation (i.e. fossil, microturbines) and
controllable loads to meet your community’s energy needs.
Our solution dynamically forecasts and controls these resources
to maximize your energy savings both while connected to the
utility grid and when operating in islanded mode.
Battery Storage
Ground Mount Solar
Backup Generator
Management Console
Messaging System
Homes
Distributed ResourcesSolar
BatteryControllable Load
CommercialFacilities
Transmission(optional)
SolarCity Microgrid Architecture Leveraging Distributed Energy Resources
3
Technical Philosophy
GridLogic is built from the ground up on a set of principles and
building blocks tailored for the next generation of energy delivery:
distributed microgrids leveraging distributed energy resources.
Our philosophy enables seamless scalability, while leveraging the
distributed assets that unlock your community’s ability to deliver
clean, affordable and resilient power to its residents.
Guiding Principles
Fractal Theory
Fractals are complex systems created by repeating a simple
model at all scales, whether focused at the most granular point
or zoomed out to the macro system. GridLogic is built upon the
concept of fractals with nodes and connections, where each
node includes locally optimized DERs and loads. Each node is
self-contained and capable of operating autonomously as well
as in coordination with the macro system. A collection of nodes
itself becomes a locally optimized node. This concept simplifies
a complex system such as the electric grid into combinations
of stable and self-optimized building blocks that operate in
a coordinated fashion. This architecture can be scaled from
individual components to increasingly complex and large systems.
In the electric grid, the local optimization of buildings
thus leads to the coordinated control of neighborhoods,
circuits and communities.
Distributed Intelligence Hierarchy
The scalability of GridLogic is enabled by intelligence at every
node and level of the grid. Each node includes intelligence that
is capable of operating autonomously or through central control
signals. By moving beyond the traditional command-and-control
architecture of the existing grid, increasingly complex control and
optimization challenges can be solved. Distributed intelligence
enables the integration and coordination of significantly more
DERs, a task that is difficult for centralized systems.
Building Blocks
Smart Homes and Buildings
The smart home and building are the foundational energy assets
upon which to build the grid of the 21st century. Each smart home
and building contains a diverse set of controllable energy assets,
including solar, batteries and controllable load. By locally optimizing
these assets, the smart home and building become the flexible
building blocks for your microgrid.
Messaging System
GridLogic uses a proprietary communication protocol based on a
publish-subscribe messaging system. To enable communications,
the central coordinator and each DER are added as participants
on the system. Each utilizes the system to publish its status to all
participants and to subscribe to messages from other participants,
which then could be used to make adjustments to its own
operation. This results in a loosely coupled and scalable system,
where DERs can be added or removed with no significant impact
to rest of the system.
Messaging System
Subscriber
Coordinator
1
2
3
4
5
MessagingSystem
Participants of the messaging system can publish messages or subscribe to messages from other participants.
Example of demand response event:
1. Demand response event published2. Subscriber processes demand response event3. Local load reduced4. Net load is republished5. Coordinator subscribes to aggregate net load
Example of other events:
Voltage controlReactive power controlDesired net load schedulesPV curtailment
Hospital
West Village
Water PlantMarina18.4 kW 13.4 kW
58.2 kW98.7 kW
294.4 kW
School
East Village
Power Plant
422.4 kW92.1 kW90.4 kW
0.0 kW52.8 kW
9.7 kW0.0 kW
0.0 kW0.0 kW
Location
West Village
Hospital
Marina
Water Plant
Power Plant
TYPE
Battery
Load
PV
Generator
School
East Village
All
All Gross Load: 575.3kW PV: 698.8kW Battery: -123.4kW Generator: 0kW
GridLogic is deployed with dynamic control capabilities that monitor real-time grid conditions and make continual adjustments to keep your community microgrid stable while delivering economically optimized energy at all times of day and night.
Energy Management
Through a combination of distributed intelligence and centralized
control, GridLogic continuously optimizes DER dispatch and load
consumption to maximize your community’s energy savings.
Production from microgrid DER assets is balanced against utility
grid availability based on prioritization by least cost.
Frequency Control
Frequency control is provided by generation assets using either
isochronous operation or enabling generator droop control in
response to varying load conditions. As part of commissioning,
SolarCity will configure the microgrid and generators to provide
continuous and automatic frequency control. GridLogic can
configure any of the following resource types to provide frequency
control: battery, combustion turbine, diesel generator, small hydro
and fuel cells.
Voltage and Reactive Power Management
Ensuring power quality is of critical importance. GridLogic ensures
power quality through dynamic voltage and reactive power
management, both autonomously and via centralized control
signals. By utilizing the embedded four-quadrant volt/VAR smart
inverter capabilities within your microgrid, voltage and reactive
power management can reliably ensure power quality is delivered
to within ANSI technical standards or better.
Monitoring and Control
SolarCity provides a full suite of systems for continuous and automatic operation of your microgrid, which provide seamless behind-the-scenes control and optimization. You can monitor and manage your microgrid using tools provided by SolarCity.
PowerGuide Monitoring
SolarCity’s proprietary PowerGuide system utilizes revenue-grade
metering and monitoring equipment to collect a real-time and
granular snapshot of all DERs and consumption. The GridLogic
Control System uses this data to make real-time adjustments,
day-ahead forecast and monitor overall system performance.
Islanding and Protection
In the event of a grid failure, your microgrid will automatically enter
island mode. By coordinating protection schemes and islanding
switchgear, your microgrid will continue to supply locally generated
electricity while it’s isolated from the utility grid. In addition,
non-critical loads will be automatically shut off to create a low
power state. GridLogic can be configured to permanently operate
islanded from the grid, or only during times of utility grid failure.
GridLogic islanding mode enables the highest level of resiliency
for critical facilities when power is needed most.
Dynamic Forecasting
In order to fully optimize economic energy delivery, DER generation
and load consumption are dynamically forecasted on an on-going,
day-of, and day-ahead basis. To ensure DER availability and
economic dispatch, the system continuously adjusts its projections
based on real-time monitoring data and historical performance to
improve forecasts.
Scalable Architecture
Communications Platform
GridLogic is equipped with a flexible and robust communications
platform that monitors and manages all DERs in your community
microgrid. The platform is designed to be lightweight and secure
to ensure reliable communication links to all DERs, monitoring
and control equipment. Communications are maintained though a
combination of wired and wireless telecommunications links.
Dynamic Control Algorithms
GridLogic’s foundation is built upon dynamic control algorithms that
seamlessly monitor, optimize, and control your portfolio of microgrid
DERs. Each DER is monitored and controlled locally using distributed
intelligence, yet and centrally coordinated through GridLogic’s
systemwide optimization engine. The control algorithms utilize real-
time monitoring data and dynamic DER and load forecasts along with
grid parameters and constraints to deliver dependable electric service.
Distributed Energy Resources
GridLogic integrates a diverse portfolio of DERs, including renewable
fossil generators, combined heat and power, and microturbines),
controllable loads, and the utility grid to meet your community’s
energy needs. Our solution dynamically forecasts and controls these
re-sources to maximize your energy savings both while connected to
the utility grid and when operating in islanded mode.
Rate Plan Pricing Editor
8
Design Considerations SolarCity’s in-house experts will work with you to develop a tailored solution using our Microgrid Design Tool. This tool uses your historic consumption, location-specific parameters and capabilities of your existing assets to design your microgrid and create an optimized portfolio of DERs to meet your community’s objectives.
Pre-Existing Generation Utilization
If you have existing local generation assets, i.e. solar or generators,
SolarCity will work with you to model and utilize the capabilities of
those assets into the design and select a complementary portfolio
to existing assets. The control system will optimize and coordinate
the operation of those assets along with other resources to
maximize your savings.
Backup Power Duration
GridLogic is designed to ensure that your critical facilities continue
to remain powered under a variety of grid failure conditions.
The control system can be easily configured to maximize backup
power at all times or in preparation for severe weather events.
Maximize Renewable Energy
If you’re in a remote community, you may find it expensive to
import fuel to your region and may wish to operate fully on
renewable energy. We can design and operate GridLogic to
maximize the utilization of the renewable energy generated at
the site of the microgrid.
Existing Energy and Utility Costs
Whether your community or campus is located in an isolated
region or in a metropolitan area, you can continue to leverage
the benefits of your utility’s grid. GridLogic includes a powerful
optimization engine that maximizes the savings from all DERs and
the utility grid. The system forecasts DER production and uses the
utility’s rates to ensure that the system is operated in an efficient
and affordable manner.
Microgrid Design Tool
SolarCity’s in-house teams will enter energy profiles and preferences into our Microgrid Design Tool to create an optimized energy portfolio.
PV
Battery Charged(from PV)
BackupGen Load
GridPower
MicroGrid Design ToolLoad
System
Existing Resources
9
Typical Applications
Municipalities with Critical Backup Needs
We know that one of the greatest challenges you face is managing
energy costs while ensuring that critical facilities remain powered
during emergencies and catastrophic events. With the frequency
of major storms such as Hurricane Sandy increasing, we recognize
that ensuring critical facilities remain powered during catastrophic
events is a key priority for municipal energy managers.
GridLogic ensures the resiliency of these facilities during such
events. Facilities can include those that are municipal-owned (i.e.
Fire, Police, Emergency Ops Centers) and those that are non-
municipal-owned (i.e. Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, etc.), while
providing energy cost savings year-round by utilizing the same
assets to manage day-to-day energy costs.
Remote Communities
We understand that remote communities face the challenges of
high costs of energy along with lack of resiliency during severe
weather events. The costs of energy are driven by volatility in fuel
costs and transportation costs. Managing the total costs of energy
in a clean and reliable way is a priority for remote communities.
GridLogic helps remote communities by integrating clean sources
of energy with batteries, conventional generation and dynamic load
to optimize overall operations. Our solution helps lower the costs of
energy, while providing resiliency during severe weather events.
Microgrid Island Mode
Typical SolarCity microgrid architecture for municipalities with critical backup power needs.
Transmission(optional)
Battery Storage
Ground Mount Solar
Backup Generator
Generation is allocated to emergency services. Discretional energy use is limited.
Messaging System
10
Contact Us
To learn more about GridLogic and the solution that is right for you, call us at 877.695.7652 or fill in the form at solarcity.com/gridlogic.
SolarCityMicrogrid-as-a-Service Solutions444 De Haro St, Suite 101 San Francisco, CA 94107