New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approves feasibility study for Camden County microgrid

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) recently approved an application by Camden County for a feasibility study of a microgrid that would enable continued operation of critical facilities during outages.

The microgrid would connect the Camden County Municipal Utility Authority (CCMUA) wastewater treatment plant and the Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center, a waste-to-energy facility, along with other critical facilities in the city such as schools and public shelters.

“This proposed microgrid integrates existing local resources including the resource recovery facility’s generation capacity into a town center microgrid allowing us to take advantage of investments made years ago,” NJBPU President Richard S. Mroz said. “This unique microgrid system would enable the CCMUA to remain operational during power outages, which could prevent raw sewage from flowing into the Delaware River and its tributaries.”

After Superstorm Sandy, the Energy Master Plan 2015 EMP Update included information on improving utility infrastructure resiliency, supporting the establishment of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as microgrids and designing and implementing Town Center DER microgrids to power critical facilities and services.

“We learned in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy that wastewater treatment plants are extremely vulnerable to severe weather events and power outages, which is why having an independent power source is so critical,” Andy Kricun, executive director and chief engineer at CCMUA, said.