1/23, Thursday. Sierra Club organized this tour of the microgrid in Arlington operated and owned by Snohomish PUD.
I got a ride from David at Lynnwood lightrail station. Coincidentally, he and wife are going to Jeju in a month, which I visited just 2 months ago.
3 PUD employees, 2 worked at PUD for 17-18 years, 1 a recent hire for this project. This is a small solar installation, no wonder these are called micro-grid. No solar panel on the roof of the visitor center, even though its roof is angled towards the south. Few things I learned:
- recycling aged lithium-ion battery is in the planning, but doesn't yet have good solution.
- more micro-grids like this are being installed.
- currently, electricity price is the same 24/7 for the final user, but cost is different due to usage spikes throughout the day.
- diesel is used for the backup.
- battery tower generates a lot of heat: I saw water dripping constantly from the roof.
- multiple step-downs from the power line to household 120V.
