Solar District Cup
Problem statement
Imagine the grid supplying power to your state of the art research facility goes down, and you lose days of crucial data, wasting laboratory assets. Currently, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) relies heavily on power purchased from the municipal grid, which leaves them vulnerable to power outages [1]. We intend to help the PNNL decrease their dependency on the grid via designing and planning the implementation of a distributed photovoltaic energy system. This system will act as a microgrid that will supply power to buildings on the PNNL’s campus. Compared to the lab’s current cheap and 92% emissionless hydro and nuclear power purchases, the investment in solar panels may seem high [2]. However, this system is about giving the laboratory time to protect their vital research which lays a foundation for innovations that advance sustainable energy [2]. It will also advance the laboratory’s goals of being completely emissionless and having a resilient energy system by 2030. Ultimately, our solution will provide confidence to the lab’s employees and investors that research operations are protected from inadequacies in the grid. [1] “Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) | arpa-e.energy.gov.” https://arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/projects/high-performance-adaptive-deep-reinforcement-learning-based-real-time (accessed Oct. 01, 2021). [2] “Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | PNNL.” https://www.pnnl.gov/ (accessed Sep. 30, 2021).
Team members
Lauren Hunter – leader
Gregory Johnson – communicator
Fabio Ribeiro Teixeira – accountant
Lauren Westlund – admin
Client