GridSolar announced this week that it will host a workshop in Boothbay on Tuesday, Sept. 11 to explain the upcoming Boothbay Smart Grid Reliability Pilot Project due to get underway this fall.

“The Maine Public Utilities Commission has designated the Boothbay peninsula as the location for a three-year pilot project to test whether we can improve the stability of the electric grid by making it smarter, instead of larger,” said Rich Silkman, managing member of GridSolar and smart grid pilot project operator.

GridSolar will seek bids from energy consumers and generators for up to 2,000kW of smart grid projects that either reduce energy use or generate power within the towns of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, and Southport. Smart grid projects may include solar arrays, tidal or wind power, energy-efficient lighting and cooling, load shifting, back-up generation, primary generation, and energy storage. 

Each qualified project must reduce the amount of power imported into the region at periods of peak use, such as hot summer afternoons.

“The Smart Grid Reliability Pilot Project should enable the Boothbay area to avoid the expense and problems created by new power line construction, while lowering energy costs and reducing pollution,” Silkman said.

The workshop at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Education Center in Boothbay will explain the project and introduce area business and institutions to energy service providers that can help them design qualifying proposals. Light refreshments will be served.

According to the Maine Public Utilities Commission's order approving the pilot project, it is designed to test both the cost and the effectiveness of ensuring grid reliability using a range of smart grid solutions, including at least 250 kW each of energy efficiency, demand response, renewable distributed generation (at least half of which shall be photovoltaic solar energy), and non-renewable distributed generation (with preference given to resources with no net emissions of greenhouse gases). 

By reducing net loads in the project area by to 2,000 kW at periods of peak use, the pilot project would help Central Maine Power avoid the need for an $18 million rebuild of the 34.5 kV powerline from Newcastle to Boothbay.
For more information, email info@gridsolar.com or visit www.grisolar.com.
To see a map of the project area, visit https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7503413/BB%20Smart%20Grid%20Reliability%20Pilot%20Map.jpg.