City of Camarillo

The Clean Coalition has been engaged to bring unprecedented expertise and depth to the City of Camarillo’s energy program by conducting a Solar and Battery Standby Power Assessment of the feasibility for renewables-driven resilience. The resilience provided by solar+storage would ensure continuous operation of five key critical facilities within the City of Camarillo in response to Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events and unplanned electrical power outages.

The key objective of the study is to assess the feasibility of solar and battery storage systems, also known as a microgrid, to meet the electrical needs at each of five City of Camarillo facilities during electrical power outages: City Hall, Corporation Yard, Wastewater Treatment Plant, City Library, and the Police Station. The scope of work covers data collection and analysis, conceptual system design, identifying structural concerns, performing a lifetime economic analysis, and identifying potential funding opportunities.

The team is investigating both the technical and the economic feasibility as part of the study. Since a system that meets all the performance standards may not be economically preferable, the team plans to investigate system design alternatives. Through the outcomes of this feasibility study, the City will be enabled to make a well-informed decision on whether to pursue a solar-driven microgrid for each of the five City facilities. The Clean Coalition has engaged TRC Companies to support the analyses.

Key metrics and performance standards for the designs:

• System power rating must be at least 150% of average daily use and meet peak
  demand.
• System must be capable of providing 120 hours of continuous power for emergency
  use relying solely on on-site solar and battery storage resources. Solar panels must be
  designed to charge the batteries to extend the minimum required duration of 120
  hours.