The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is circulating a draft petition to be used by applicants for up to $1 million in funding for community microgrids in the state.


Working with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the BPU identified 24 communities in 17 state municipalities that were hit the hardest by Superstorm Sandy and could benefit from the microgrids.


The state already has about 45 microgrids, most which are on college campuses or are single-building microgrids with a single type of distributed energy, usually natural gas combined heat and power (CHP) units.


The BPU will offer up to $200,000 per feasibility study for five to 10 community microgrids. 


To qualify for consideration, applications must include the approximate sizes of the projects, building square footages and Federal Emergency Management Agency classifications.


In addition, the proposed microgrids must serve critical facilities, such as hospitals, police and emergency shelters. In the case of these specific microgrids, they will be expected to serve clustered critical facilities—preferably those within a radius of less than a mile.


Buildings that could potentially be connected to microgrids in these communities would be evaluated for their electric and heat requirements, which would allow for the use of CHP units as part of the microgrids.


In addition, the microgrids must be able to cost-effectively operate in both grid-connected and “island” mode.


“[Distributed generation] technologies generate power locally, minimize line losses, allow for greater cost control, and enable islanding and ‘black start’ capabilities,” the BPU report states. “Together, these benefits can provide New Jersey with reliable and resilient energy to keep the lights on during ‘blue sky’ days and emergencies alike.”