California Reservation's Solar Microgrid Provides Power During Utility Shutoffs
加州保留地的太陽(yáng)能微電網(wǎng)在電力供應(yīng)中斷時(shí)提供電力
California's largest electric utility took the unprecedented step of shutting off power to millions of customers beginning last October. The decision was meant to prevent power equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires.
從去年10月開始,加州最大的電力公司采取了前所未有的措施,切斷了數(shù)百萬(wàn)用戶的電力供應(yīng)。這一決定是為了防止電力設(shè)備引發(fā)災(zāi)難性的野火。
Now a renewable energy microgrid on a tiny California Native American reservation is proving to be one solution to this ongoing problem.
現(xiàn)在,在美國(guó)加州印第安人保留地建立一個(gè)可再生能源微電網(wǎng)被證明是解決這一持續(xù)問(wèn)題的一個(gè)辦法。
The Blue Lake Rancheria is located just north of Eureka, Calif. On the 100-acre campus, just behind the casino and hotel, Jana Ganion opens a chain-link fence.
藍(lán)湖牧場(chǎng)位于加利福尼亞州尤里卡北部。在占地100英畝的校園里,就在賭場(chǎng)和酒店后面,賈娜·加尼昂打開了一道鐵絲網(wǎng)圍欄。
Inside, in an area half the size of a football field, are more than 1.500 solar panels, slanted toward the noonday sun.
在這個(gè)只有半個(gè)足球場(chǎng)大小的區(qū)域里,有1500多塊太陽(yáng)能電池板斜對(duì)著正午的太陽(yáng)。
Ganion is the sustainability director with the Blue Lake Rancheria, which includes about 50 members. She helped build this solar microgrid as part of the tribe's goal to develop climate-resilient infrastructure and to be ready for earthquakes and tsunamis.
加尼昂是藍(lán)湖牧場(chǎng)的可持續(xù)發(fā)展總監(jiān),該協(xié)會(huì)包括大約50名成員。她幫助建造了這個(gè)太陽(yáng)能微電網(wǎng),作為部落目標(biāo)的一部分,目的是發(fā)展適應(yīng)氣候的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,并為地震和海嘯做好準(zhǔn)備。
But then beginning in October, it became useful in a whole new way.
但從10月開始,它以一種全新的方式變得有用。
The utility, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), shut off power to more than 30 counties in Central and Northern California on Oct. 9.
太平洋燃?xì)怆娏?PG&E)于10月9日關(guān)閉了加州中部和北部30多個(gè)縣的電力供應(yīng)。
People were fueling up vehicles, but also their home generators. That continued, basically, for the duration of the 28-hour outage.
人們不僅在為車輛加油,而且還在為他們的家用發(fā)電機(jī)加油?;旧希?8小時(shí)的停電期間,這種情況一直在持續(xù)。
As one of the only gas stations in the county with power, the reservation provided diesel to United Indian Health Services to refrigerate their medications and to the Mad River Fish Hatchery to keep their fish alive. The local newspaper used a hotel conference room to put out the next day's paper. Area residents stopped by to charge their cell phones.
作為該縣僅有的幾個(gè)有電的加油站之一,印第安人保留地向聯(lián)合衛(wèi)生服務(wù)公司提供柴油,以冷藏他們的藥品,并向Mad River魚類孵化場(chǎng)提供柴油,以使他們的魚活下來(lái)。當(dāng)?shù)氐膱?bào)紙用旅館的會(huì)議室來(lái)刊登第二天的報(bào)紙。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裢O聛?lái)給手機(jī)充電。
Ganion estimates that on that day more than 10.000 nearby residents came to the reservation for gas and supplies.
據(jù)加尼昂估計(jì),當(dāng)天有超過(guò)1萬(wàn)名附近的居民來(lái)保留區(qū)購(gòu)買汽油和物資。
County officials had been warned about the utility shutoffs, but they didn't know they were happening until that day, says Ryan Derby, emergency services manager for Humboldt County, where Blue Lake Rancheria is located.
藍(lán)湖蘭徹里亞所在的洪堡縣的應(yīng)急服務(wù)經(jīng)理賴安•德比說(shuō),縣官員已經(jīng)收到了關(guān)閉公共設(shè)施的警告,但他們直到那天才知道會(huì)發(fā)生這種事。
"Our entire planning model for the last 18 months got thrown out the window," Derby says.
德比表示:“我們過(guò)去18個(gè)月的整個(gè)規(guī)劃模式泡湯了。”
Suddenly, the rural county of 136.000 people was in the dark.
突然間,這個(gè)擁有13.6萬(wàn)人口的農(nóng)村縣陷入了黑暗之中。
Derby says, " I think in light of these public safety power shutoffs we realized how dependent we really are on electricity."
德比說(shuō):“我認(rèn)為,鑒于這些公共安全電力關(guān)閉,我們意識(shí)到我們是多么依賴電力。”
At the Blue Lake Rancheria, Anita Huff was directing emergency services for people with critical medical needs.
在藍(lán)湖蘭徹里亞,安妮塔·赫夫正在為有嚴(yán)重醫(yī)療需求的人提供緊急服務(wù)。
"We had eight people here who could not have lived without electricity," Huff says. "So, we saved eight lives."
“我們這里有8個(gè)人沒(méi)有電就活不下去,”赫夫說(shuō)。“所以,我們救了8條生命。”
The tribe built the microgrid with help from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University.
在洪堡州立大學(xué)Schatz能源研究中心的幫助下,該部落建造了微電網(wǎng)。