Hitachi Energy Solutions Brings Microgrids to Verge 16 Clean Economy Conference
Hitachi will design and deliver onsite micro grid with partner Spirae and conduct three half-day microgrid workshops
SANTA CLARA, California, September 19, 2016 — Hitachi America’s Energy Solutions Division (“Hitachi Energy Solutions”) will play a significant role at Verge ’16: the leading conference and expo for technology solutions to major sustainability challenges. The event will be powered by a 100% renewable microgrid demonstrating the rapidly evolving energy landscape toward greener, distributed energy solutions.
VERGE 16 Conference and Expo, taking place Sept. 19 to 22 in Santa Clara, California, will convene over 1,500 professionals from the world’s largest companies, most innovative startups and city leaders to explore the latest technologies, tools and trends accelerating the clean economy.
The Verge microgrid, to be built on-site in just one day, will utilize power generated from an 18-panel, 3.4 kW solar array, four wind turbines — 1kW (variable), a 25kW biomass gasifier, a 125 kW battery storage truck and a 100kW biodiesel generator acting as a load balancer.
“The VERGE microgrid demonstrates the true power of converging technologies,” said Eric Faurot, CEO of Oakland-based GreenBiz Group, which produces VERGE. “It shows clearly that today’s off-the-shelf technologies are capable of powering our world, and doing so reliably, affordably and cleanly.”
Since 2013, VERGE conferences have built renewably powered microgrids on-site to demonstrate the power and reliability of distributed energy resources. Spirae and Hitachi will provide the design, engineering, and project management for the development and installation of the 2016 microgrid. Other technologies in the microgrid come from All Power Labs, JLM Energy, PG&E and Volta Charging.
“VERGE is all about the wonderful possibilities at the intersection of sustainability and technology,” said John Westerman, Vice President of Hitachi Energy Solutions. “Hitachi’s mission is to bring our technological and engineering strength to solving global social and environmental challenges. That synergy in our respective missions is one reason we are so delighted to work with Spirae to power VERGE 16 with a 100% renewable on-site microgrid.”
“We are thrilled to present this fully functional ‘microgrid in a day’ at VERGE 16,” said Dr. Sunil Cherian, CEO of Spirae, LLC. “It gives Spirae an opportunity to collaborate with Hitachi and other distributed energy vendors to demonstrate our ability to stand up a microgrid in an efficient and standardized way using our plug and play Wave software platform.”
As a premier sponsor, Hitachi Energy Solutions will also conduct a microgrid workshop, “Designing and Deploying Microgrids to Create Value.” This interactive workshop will be led by the staff at Hitachi and Spirae that designed and delivered the VERGE microgrid. Attendees will get an inside look at the microgrid business case and development process. The session ends with guided tour of the VERGE microgrid.
“Hitachi Energy Solutions delivers an end to end microgrid solution to customers who are seeking more reliable, secure energy supply, reduced emissions, and lowered energy costs,” said Erica Hauver, Senior Vice President, Hitachi Energy Solutions. “We design, finance, build, and operate microgrids for a variety of municipal, institutional and commercial clients.”
“By being vendor agnostic, we can design the system and choose the equipment and software that meets customers’ specific objectives, while optimizing system performance and economics,” she continued. “We are particularly proud of our work with New York’s community microgrid projects, which will bring greater energy resilience to communities particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.”