During the Del Norte Board of Supervisors meeting — September 24th, at the Flynn Center in Crescent City — the Board received a presentation on how Del Norte County can implement microgrids to provide sustainability and resilience to our electricity in times of crisis. SitelogIQ’s presentation explained what a microgrid is to the Board as an interconnected, self-sufficient energy system within a clearly defined electrical boundary that can act as a single controllable entity.
These microgrids are intended to cover critical infrastructure in the county by allowing them to stay powered on during emergencies by utilizing solar power, generator power, and battery backups in the case of Del Norte County. Kristy Coughlin, MPA with SitelogIQ described the use of these microgrids as isolating critical pockets within the community and providing them with sustainable and resilient power.
Several pockets have been identified by SitelogIQ. One is the Del Monte Substation Area, which includes the Del Norte County School District offices, the Del Norte High School, and Sutter Coast Hospital, which are critical infrastructures to maintain as seen during the Smith River Complex. The second is the area surrounding the harbor and a large swath of downtown, which contains the County Jail, the Police Department, the Crescent City Fire Department, and Joe Hamilton school.
Following the presentation, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard spoke to the need for redundancy in our infrastructures. He wants to reconnect the power lines between Curry County and Del Norte County which were severed in 1964. He doesn’t think it will happen within the next decade, which is why we ought to go with this microgrid solution with SitelogIQ. Chairman Wilson pointed out, “This is a solution to the critical infrastructure, it is not a solution to the general secondary power. But it is a solution to what critical services we might need and know we need to have stable energy provided[.]”
After several public comments suggesting that Del Norte County won’t be helped by a microgrid and that the county should instead set up a bunch of diesel generators for this kind of problem, Supervisor Howard rebutted the arguments. “In 1964 this county was cut off from the world, meaning diesel was not available to run the generators,” he said. “As we’re aware [during] the Smith River Complex we used 53,000+ gallons of diesel a day to generate power for this community. So diesel is not necessarily the answer […] I would encourage us as a Board to reflect back on history, the history that has cut this community off from those needs that would power diesel generators and put something more site-specific.”
One of the public commenters did attempt to rebut the arguments that Supervisor Howard made,, but Chairman Wilson declined to allow it. With the presentation and question session concluded, the Board showed interest in seeing the specific numbers on a microgrid project some time in the near future and moved on to their next agenda item.
