See why Cities are Proud to be Digital

Within healthcare, 3 factors relate directly to a reliable energy supply: regulatory compliance, patient experience, and energy management efficiency.

Microgrids can supply such mission-critical structures with a reliable source of power when the external power grid is compromised. Siemens energy management teams can help determine which components, such as CHP, renewables and microgrid management systems that can best meet the needs of a hospital separated from the grid.

Take for instance the city of Atwater, CA that used a PPA (power purchase agreement) to create a cost-effective solution that offered a reduction in electricity prices, offloaded some of the treatment plant’s demand from the grid and took advantage of a clean, sustainable energy resource. By utilizing a vacant space at the wastewater site to locate a 1.1 MW photovoltaic farm, the city will save $1 million in operating expenses.

Guided by energy management experts, small upgrades in lighting and motor technologies can yield marked results. As a contained community, correctional facilities are ideal candidates for microgrids and islanding. Such investments would also increase public safety by greatly improving facility reliability, resilience and security.

Millennials are abandoning their parent’s “dream of suburbia“ to live in an urban center. To encourage this influx of new residents, cities must invest in modern public. Zero and low carbon footprint is important to this target group.

The navigation control aspect of an airport is heavily dependent on electric power and critical to aircraft movement both in the air and on the ground. Aircraft on the ground often use fossil fueled APUs, increasing the airports carbon footprint. What a typical airport has is space to set up a sturdy, island-able microgrid integrating photovoltaics, CHP, and storage technologies. These provide the reliability and resilience that keeps aircraft travel one of the safest forms of transportation today.

An advanced control system is required to manage the daily operation of the typical microgrid. A system such as the Siemens Microgrid Management System (MGMS) provides municipal operators like Blue Lake Rancheria in California the capability to set up a microgrid with a low CO2 footprint, or helps the citizens of Lake Worth Florida become the owners of their own utility.

Not only is weaving a low carbon energy footprint into its large venue a plus, it  also supports new sports venue design trends that are adding features like the inclusion of power outlets into each seat so millennials can stay connected during the game. By integrating proven Siemens distributed energy generation solutions and management, these large municipal complexes that spike energy use with each event can provide an uninterrupted experience for their guests and thus securing a reliable future income stream.

Environmentally unfriendly diesel powered on-board APUs offer a great opportunity to reduce carbon footprint at the port by offering environmentally friendly power dockside. As a fairly well demarcated entity, a port is an ideal candidate for a microgrid implementation complete with islanding capability with a single point of connection to the main grid creating port power reliability and resilience that keeps the fast pace of shipping and commerce moving.

Municipalities wishing to set up and manage a microgrid can use Siemens Microgrid Software as a Service (MSaaS) that is specially designed for municipalities to dynamically manage and control distributed energy resources with integrated weather and load forecasting.