Black & Veatch microgrid powering facility at Shell Technology Center Houston

A microgrid designed by Black & Veatch recently began powering a facility at Shell’s Technology Center in Houston, Texas, the company announced Tuesday.

Shell Technology Center Houston (STCH) is one of three hubs at which Shell International Exploration & Production Company, Inc. explores next-generation clean power and distributed energy technologies.

The microgrid incorporates 300 kilowatts (kW) of ground-mounted solar, a 127-kW natural gas generator, a 250-kW, 1,050-megawatt-hour (MWh) lithium-ion battery and a 250-kW load bank.

The system is paired with the ASSET360 cloud-based data analytics platform, which is available through Black & Veatch’s software subsidiary Atonix Digital. The platform provides actionable insights about the microgrid’s performance and allows Shell operators to optimize operation based on energy demand, solar production, and other conditions.

“The microgrid is already generating value for STCH by providing resilient, renewable power for part of our campus,” said Jon La Follett, energy system integration and storage program lead in Shell’s New Energies Research and Technology Department. “And by exporting power to the local grid, we are generating economic benefit. But more importantly, this environment gives us the opportunity to test different ideas and strategies as we work to understand the operational envelope of these different components. One of the things that makes this microgrid unique is the diversity of the components that are involved. We wanted the flexibility to test numerous combinations of distributed energy resources.”

In early 2019, the microgrid will be expanded to include additional Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) technologies and electric vehicle chargers.

“By serving as a platform for hands-on research, the microgrid allows Shell to analyze different scenarios in renewable energy systems integration, providing an elevated level of technology assurance and insight,” Dustin Rogge, Black & Veatch’s project manager, said. “By enabling the testing, demonstration, and development of sustainable power solutions, the microgrid allows Shell to better understand complex distributed energy integration challenges. With this knowledge, Shell can accelerate its development and move solutions quickly to market.”