POWER June 2021 - 33

COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL GENERATION
How Commercial and Industrial
Facilities Benefit from On-Site
Power
Commercial and industrial companies can reap many rewards by taking a more
hands-on approach in sourcing power. Incorporating solar, wind, and other forms of
on-site generation-including combined heat and power schemes-can reduce energy
costs, improve reliability, and support sustainability initiatives, among other things.
Aaron Larson
B
efore the power grid existed,
commercial and industrial (C&I)
businesses had to find ways to
power their operations internally. That
all changed when central power stations
became the norm. The development of
the modern electric grid allowed C&I
companies to focus on their primary
businesses and leave power generation
to the electric utilities.
However, just as old styles often find
their way back into the fashion mainstream,
old ways of doing business are
starting to find their way back into the
C&I world. Today, many non-power companies
are finding it beneficial to have
on-site generation to support their operations.
In some cases, environmental,
social, and governance (ESG) initiatives
are driving the change, while in others,
economic factors or a desire for greater
reliability and resiliency are leading companies
to install on-site options.
Reliable Solar Power Supplements
Less-Reliable Grids
MicroTech, a company that designs and
fabricates small metal and plastic components
for clients including Volkswagon,
Toyota, Boeing, Honeywell, Caterpillar,
Bosch, Philips, and NASA, operates a
state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in
Costa Rica. MicroTech had several reasons
for wanting to take greater control
of its power system. For example, it was
experiencing outages and power surges
that were causing trouble with equipment,
product losses, and operational
inefficiency, and the problems were
happening regularly.
" There were a couple of goals we
needed to accomplish-economics,
backup/resiliency, quality of energy, and
the ability to curtail energy were all important, "
said Michael McCuen, founder
June 2021 | POWER
and managing partner of Energías Limpias
de Centroamérica (ELCA), a full-service
clean-energy developer that focuses
on distributed generation, power storage,
and power management.
ELCA designed and installed a microgrid
power system for MicroTech
that included 1,432 Sharp solar panels
and a 1.1-MWh Tesla PowerPack battery
energy storage system (Figure 1). ELCA
selected Solectria PVI 60TL inverters
for the project, and used S-5! PVKIT 2.0
components and S-5-H clamps to mount
the solar panels.
" My company had experience installing
other technologies, but in the end,
the combination of equipment gave us
behind-the-meter capabilities to clean up
the quality of energy, provide economic
benefits, and provide the backup for their
critical loads. The other benefit to MicroTech
is they immediately received new
client relationships or have increased
customer base due to their carbon reductions, "
McCuen told POWER.
To facilitate the project, MicroTech
signed an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS)
contract with ELCA, which meant MicroTech
didn't have to invest any capital
of its own in the project, but it is clearly
benefiting from the system, and not just
from increased reliability. " Our system
has reduced their invoice from the utility
by almost 70%, " said McCuen.
Adding Wind Turbines Enhances
Sustainability
Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) had a
slightly different motivation than MicroTech
for wanting to add on-site power
generation to its renewable diesel facility
in Dickinson, North Dakota. It wanted
to decrease the facility's carbon
emissions profile.
" Lowering the carbon intensity of the
renewable fuels we produce at our Dickwww.powermag.com
1.
MicroTech's state-of-the-art manufacturing
facility in San José, Costa Rica, added 1,432
rooftop solar panels and a 1.1-MWh Tesla PowerPack
energy storage system (the white panel
visible amidst the greenery on the right side
of the building) to obtain cleaner energy and
much-needed reliability. Courtesy: S-5!
inson facility helps us to capture additional
value in the markets we serve and
enhance the overall sustainability of our
operations, " Ray Brooks, executive vice
president of Refining with MPC, said in
a press release.
MPC contracted with One Energy Enterprises
to develop, own, and operate
five 2.3-MW wind turbines at the Dickinson
site. Like MicroTech, MPC was able to
avoid investing its own money-One Energy
will provide the capital for the project
and MPC will pay a fixed price for the windgenerated
electricity. One Energy calls its
program " Wind for Industry. "
" With Wind for Industry, we give customers
lower rates today, lock those rates
in flat for 20 years, significantly lower Tier
2 emissions, and we can do it all without
any capital cost to them, " Jereme Kent,
CEO of One Energy, told POWER.
" Historically,
our C&I
customers
have been driven by economics-rate
certainty, rate control, and cost savings.
For these large, often Fortune 500
manufacturers, energy is the only part of
their supply chain over which they have
little or no control, " Kent said. " In recent
years, we've seen decarbonization and
meeting ESG goals become increasingly
33
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POWER June 2021

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