Microgrid Feasibility: A Case Study from Annapolis

Source: Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Adams, Justin Felt & Jared Leader · T&D · | September 3, 2021

The Maryland Energy Administration partners with industry and community on a microgrid feasibility study at an affordable housing development site.

City of Annapolis

The frequency and intensity of naturally occurring threats is increasing. In Maryland alone, 41 billion-dollar-disaster events have totaled US$307 billion in damages over the last 20 years, a more than 50% increase from 1980 to 2000. Extreme weather events threaten the stability of the grid and cause power outages with significant economic losses.

Compounding these losses, communities with low-income and elderly populations are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events. For example, they often are less equipped to afford the cost of food waste caused by a refrigerator that has lost power and face a higher risk of fatality during extreme temperature events without a working heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system.

One such vulnerable community is the Newtowne Twenty affordable housing complex in Annapolis, Maryland. Newtowne Twenty is a 78-unit affordable housing development currently undergoing revitalization. Local stakeholders and the utility were interested in assessing the feasibility of adding a microgrid to the development, which would introduce locally generated solar energy and increased resilience. The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) partially funded a microgrid feasibility study through its Resilient Maryland program, with the remaining donated funds and working time coming from the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BGE) and Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis (HACA).