Clarke Energy tapped for rec center microgrid

Clarke Energy USA Inc, a division of Kohler Co., has been selected to supply a microgrid system for the newly upgraded recreation center in Middletown, Conn.

(Photo: Clarke Energy)

The facility will integrate a Yanmar combined heat and power (CHP) unit, a battery energy storage system, solar photovoltaic system, and a Kohler standby gas generator set.

“This installation will be the most complex microgrid supplied yet by Clarke Energy and will integrate numerous sustainable and low carbon power generation and storage technologies,” said Andy Malcolm, managing director of Clarke Energy, USA. “We are delighted to have been selected by Symbiont Energy and the Middletown Recreation Center to deliver this resilient energy solution.”

Following the recent demolition and relocation of the Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Middletown, the Middletown Recreation Center is being developed on the site to serve the local community. With significant investment from the local council and funding partner X-Caliber Rural Funding, the site will include a new recreation office, and there will be renovation to the gyms and pools creating the first dedicated building for the department. The building will also be used as a heating and cooling center during extreme weather events. In the event the power utility company has an outage the microgrid system will supply energy to the building keeping local residents supplied with resilient power.

Clarke Energy was chosen to provide the power solution for the building and to develop and deliver a turnkey microgrid. This facility incorporates several different power generation and storage technologies that will be integrated and optimized to provide both parallel and back-up power for the community center.

The base energy source for the community center is one of Clarke Energy’s Yanmar CHP units that will deliver 35 kW of electricity and 204.1 kBTU/hr of hot water. The CHP unit can provide black-start capability for the microgrid.

A solar photovoltaic array will provide renewable electricity from the sun and surplus energy can be stored in a battery energy storage system for peak shaving. Finally, the resiliency of the site will be further supported with the addition of a Kohler KG100 standby gas gen-set rated 70 kW.

The site’s energy resources will be coordinated by a centralized microgrid controller.