Fire Station Microgrids
Three fire stations (6,7, & 11) in Fremont have been equipped with solar photovoltaic (PV) carports and large battery systems to increase their energy resiliency and bolster their capacity to operate during power outages. This combination of solar panels and batteries allows each station to generate and store its own energy with the ability to separate or “island” from the grid in case of an emergency. City staff are able to monitor generation and usage via cloud-based energy management software.
The project is a public-private partnership between the City of Fremont, the Fremont-based clean technology firm
Gridscape Solutions (Gridscape), and the California Energy Commission (CEC). Each station is equipped with 95 kWh of energy storage and a 40 kW solar canopy. The project is expected to save the City a combined quarter million dollars in energy costs over the next decade while decreasing the municipal greenhouse gas footprint by 80,000 pounds of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to 36 MTCO2e.
Fire station microgrids provide multiple benefits to the City and community: reducing energy demand on the grid through the use of storage technology, protecting critical facilities against power outages, supporting local innovation and entrepreneurship, increasing community resilience, saving money, and reducing carbon emissions.