Case study on utility-owned microgrid released by the
Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid
(Washington, DC – October 23, 2015) The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS)
released a new case study today that examines how San Diego Gas & Electric’s Borrego Springs
microgrid was designed, approved, and implemented as a utility-owned microgrid, as well as how the
stakeholders involved had to learn, adapt, and change along the way. The narrative-style case study is the
sixth in an ADS series that goes behind the scenes to examine the goals, reasoning, and processes used to
design and evaluate program and project offerings and tools.
“This case study highlights how numerous state and federal stakeholders collaborated to create a utilityowned microgrid project that now provides a remote town with much greater electricity reliability,” said
Dan Delurey, CEO of ADS. “This project demonstrates that utilities can alter their existing business
models and work with communities to come up with solutions that are beneficial for all of the parties
involved.”
Delurey noted that SDG&E’s microgrid project was chosen as a case study subject because of its
innovative approaches and its applicability to jurisdictions for utilities of any size or governance structure.
The case study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and
Energy Reliability, explains that the following are among the lessons learned by SDG&E over the course
of the microgrid project:
1. Be sure to include a technical evaluation on all plug and play technology to ensure everything
works in your specific environment.
2. Make sure the community is involved and has buy-in to the project.
3. Include a lot of simulations and modeling before putting everything together.
4. Be aware of all regulations (siting, emissions, etc.) before launching the project.
“Like the previous case studies released by ADS, the case study of the SDG&E Borrego Springs
microgrid uses interviews to provide an inside view of implementing a smart grid project,” said Delurey.
“You get to hear from SDG&E personnel and others not just what their conclusions are, but how they got
there, with all of the starts, stops, and course changes along the way. We hope that practitioners and
policymakers will use this to see what lessons were learned by SDG&E and how they might be applied to
their own work.”
The case study can be found on the ADS website at www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org/CaseStudies.
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About the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid
The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS) is nonprofit organization consisting of
professionals, companies, and organizations involved in demand response and smart grid. It provides
services to educate and help policymakers and practitioners its members in the conduct of their work and
in the attainment of their goals. ADS seeks to establish and grow a demand response “community” of
policymakers, utilities, system operators, technology companies, consumers, and other stakeholders.
Group Members of ADS are American Public Power Association (APPA), Baltimore Gas & Electric,
Cadmus, California ISO, ComEd, Comverge, Conservation Services Group (CSG), Constellation,
Consumers Energy, CPower, DTE Energy, Duke Energy, DVI, EcoFactor, ENBALA, EnergyHub,
General Microgrids, Innovari, ISO New England, Landis+Gyr, MISO, National Grid, National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Navigant Energy Practice, Nest, Nexant, NYSERDA,
OhmConnect, Opower, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), PECO, PJM Interconnection, Reliant, Rodan
Energy Solutions, Salt River Project, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Sensus, Siemens, Silver
Spring Networks, Southern California Edison (SCE), Southern Company, Tendril, Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), Tetra Tech, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), and WeatherBug Home.
More information on ADS can be found at: www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org
CONTACT:
Dan Delurey
Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid
(202) 441-1420
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1101 17th St NW, Suite 610
Washington, DC 20036
www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org
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