Notes from an Interview With Bruce Ferretti
Power at Lafayette
- Lafayette College:
- In heavy load months, consumes ~6 MW/month
- In lighter load months, consumes ~5 MW/month
2MW, 2500hp diesel generators were bought in response to the Incident Action Committee. In case of an emergency where the power grid could not be accessed, these generators could reliably run class and campus could go about a full normal day (without air conditioning) with the fuel stock available.
- Combined Heat and Power was considered by the college
- It would take around 100 acres of solar array to power the campus.
- Risk adversity keeps the college’s campus projects successful
- Lafayette participates in PJM demand response programs
- Shows that the college could give back to the grid during peak hours if needed
Impact of APK Solar Array
The main purpose of the solar array installed on Kirby Sports Center is to reduce the carbon footprint of the college as part of the college’s Climate Action Plan, even at a financial loss.
- Net metered array
- Lafayette subsidizes the electricity produced (~$13,000/year)
- Half a million kWh produced in a year
- For reference, Kirby Sports Center consumes 2 million kWh/yr
- Power produced by the solar array is utilized at the college
- Extremely rare for the school to provide electricity back to the larger grid
Lafayette is partnering with a developer in Texas on developing a solar array as part of a master plan for climate action, and like the solar array, finances are not being considered.
Lafayette College EV Charging Stations
Lafayette has 2 charging stations in Markle parking deck, 2 in the Watson parking lot, and 5 stations at 901 Bushkill for facilities’ electric vehicles.
Interview with Scott Baker
We scheduled a meeting with Scott Baker from PJM, the electricity wholesale organizer rin all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, to learn more about how they have been integrating renewable energy storage technologies into the energy grid. The headquarters happen to be somewhat local in Valley Forge, PA. PJM operates profit neutral with a budget of around 150-200 million dollars per year. They have been taking into account electric vehicles for the past two years now. Baker talked about how the rise in use of electric vehicles will help users understand the price of energy in kW/hr like they currently understand miles/gallon. Additionally, we discussed the potential implications of our project. Substations for energy infrastructure could be developed with CAES. These substations help with reliability in aging infrastructure and can extend a power plant’s life until the newer, cheaper, more efficient technology is developed.