Thumbnail: SitelogIQ laid out two proposed microgrid projects to supervisors back in September. | Screenshot.; Above: Pacific Power brought in large generators to restore power to Del Norte County during the Smith River Complex wildfires in August 2023. | Photo courtesy of Valerie Starkey

Four Del Norte County supervisors endorsed a plan to connect county facilities, including the sheriff’s office and jail, to community solar generation and microgrid projects that could provide backup electricity during emergencies.

But with SitelogIQ in early conversations with the utility serving Del Norte residents and other local potential partners, District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges was skeptical. He said he doubted that Pacific Power would be “OK with our microgrid running through their lines” during a major catastrophe.

“If they’re shutting down [electricity] for a safety reason, it’s going to be shut down, period,” Borges told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday after voting against a letter of agreement with SitelogIQ, the national energy efficiency provider spearheading local microgrid and solar projects.

“If it was more of an individual [project] where it was a grid located on the Flynn building or the sheriff’s building and, once the meter was shut off by Pac Power, if that potential microgrid ran that unit only, I would be more on board. But to have a central location — that’s a massive liability,” he said.

In September, SitelogIQ representatives Kristy Coughlin and Taylor Boyle laid out two proposed projects in the Crescent City area. One would supply electricity to Del Norte Unified School District, the Crescent Fire Protection District, Del Norte High School and Sutter Coast Hospital.

The second would power Crescent City’s wastewater treatment plant, city hall, police station, the Flynn Center, the sheriff’s office and courthouse.

The microgrid would tap into Pacific Power substations and incorporate solar panels, a generator and battery backup.

On Tuesday, Coughlin told supervisors that SitelogIQ is taking the first steps toward determining if such a system would be feasible. The firm is in conversations with Crescent City, the school district, Del Norte County Regional Airport and Sutter Coast Hospital, she said.

Coughlin couldn’t be specific about a timeline, however. In response to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who had urged his colleagues to take SitelogIQ’s proposal seriously, Coughlin pointed to a microgrid project at the Arcata-Eureka Airport.

As the first operational microgrid in California, that endeavor was trailblazing, Coughlin said. But it also took seven years to come online since it was also the first associated with Pacific Gas & Electric, the utility serving much of Northern California. 

The technology has grown since the McKinleyville-area microgrid came online in 2022, according to Coughlin. She said early conversations with Pacific Power, about connecting a Del Norte County microgrid to its power grid have been encouraging.

“We’re confident that with the early conversations with Pacific Power, it sounds like they are very much in support and at the table,” she said. “We’re targeting critical facilities to include the fire station, the office of ed — one of the few locations outside the tsunami zone. We also want to interconnect with primary substations as well as support Pac Power’s primary location to keep services in the community operational.”

According to the county’s staff report, SitelogIQ has proposed charging the county a development fee of $35,000 if the microgrid project is feasible.

Coughlin said  if Pacific Power doesn’t allow SitelogIQ’s microgrid to connect to its system, if there are load or capacity challenges or if equipment costs prove too expensive, that development fee to the county would be waived. She told supervisors on Tuesday that SitelogIQ wasn’t asking them to cut a check, just to approve the letter of agreement. 

“It’s a letter of understanding that if we move forward and navigate in the years of progress and work on the preliminary design, scope, scale and integration, those engineering costs would cap at $35,000,” she said. “As of today, this is just a letter of agreement so we can all proceed in the first steps in coordinating with partner agencies and on behalf of the county with Pac Power.”

Del Norte County elected officials began looking to microgrids as a redundant energy source about a year after Pacific Power shut down its transmission line in the middle of the Smith River Complex wildfires in 2023. Twelve thousand customers were without power for about five days. For some, the shutoff impeded Internet and water access.

Pacific Power restored electricity to much of the community by trucking in 81 industrial-sized generators.

Speaking in response to Borges, who asked if a microgrid would be “back feeding” Pacific Power’s transmission lines, Coughlin said the solar panels feeding into battery and generator backup at key facilities would lighten the energy load.

There won’t be a separate transmission line connected with the microgrid project, Coughlin said, but it would enable critical infrastructure to continue to function if the utility had to shut down its grid due to a wildfire or other natural disaster.

“If and when a tsunami, earthquake, debris slide and wildfire [occur], they have a mechanism to safely turn off the primary grid,” she said. “But we ensure we have critical public safety and health services on and operational. You can run your EOC, keep your jail in full function even during these instances.”

According to the letter of agreement between the county and SitelogIQ, the company will visit the county’s facilities and perform an audit, which includes interviewing operations staff about the condition of the buildings and equipment.

The letter mentions SitelogIQ’s engagement with Pacific Power and other local agencies and organizations. In addition to recommending energy management and monitoring services once the solar generation and microgrid system is developed, it will prepare a return on investment analysis.

SitelogIQ will present results of the feasibility study and investment analysis to county officials. Those results will include the costs and potential energy savings for 25 years “with escalation of no more than 6 percent and including future maintenance and repair costs.”

According to Coughlin, that 6 percent refers to the life of the equipment involved in the project, including the solar panels, batteries and generator backup. Citing California Government Code 4217, Coughlin stated that microgrid projects must be self-funding.

“With that, we included all of the maintenance warranties to ensure that the system is maintained, monitored and operational,” she said. “That is the commitment we work under. If you were to just hire a straight contractor-builder, they’d build and potentially walk away… But with our work with local counties, cities, tribes, special districts and most of California’s public schools, that is part of our agreement contract, that long-term full 25-30 year maintenance and warranty.”