This ongoing effort by a progressive local government with considerable Federal and State support provides some excellent more » lessons for the struggle to lower building carbon footprint. A current US$14 M expansion will add approximately 2 MW of NaS batteries, and undetermined wind capacity and a concentrating solar thermal system. Often described as a green prison, it has a considerable installed base of distributed energy resources including a seven-year old 1.2 MW PV array, a four-year old 1 MW fuel cell with heat recovery, and efficiency investments. « lessĪ large project is underway at Alameda County's twenty-year old 45 ha 4,000-inmate Santa Rita Jail, about 70 km east of San Francisco. This enables the battery to maintain energy balance using droops without need for a fast control system. The battery’s electronics includes Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology (CERTS) Microgrid technology. it is a locally controlled system, and it can operate both grid connected and islanded. In other words, the Santa Rita Jail is a true microgrid, or μgrid, because it fills both requirements, i.e. During grid blackouts, or when conditions favor it, the Jail can now disconnect from the grid and more » operate as an island, using the on-site resources described together with its back-up diesel generators. A current US$14 M expansion adds a 2 MW-4 MWh Li-ion battery, a static disconnect switch, and various controls upgrades. Often described as a green prison, it has a considerable installed base of distributed energy resources (DER) including an eight-year old 1.2 MW PV array, a five-year old 1 MW fuel cell with heat recovery, and considerable efficiency investments. Also presented here are overviews of the DER currently installed at the jail, as well as the value it provides by offsetting the purchase of electricity under the current Pacific Gas& Electric (PG&E) = ,Ī large microgrid project is nearing completion at Alameda County’s twenty-two-year-old 45 ha 4,000-inmate Santa Rita Jail, about 70 km east of San Francisco. The extent to which that jail is capable of islanding is principally dependant on the energy capacity of the battery-one focus of this investigation. Consequently, the jail will be able to seamlessly disconnect from the grid and operate as an island in the event of a disturbance, reconnecting again once the disturbance has dissipated. With the upcoming installation of a large-scale battery and fast static disconnect switch, Santa Rita Jail will become a true microgrid, with full CERTS Microgrid functionality. These include a 1.2MW rated rooftop PV system installed in 2002, a 1MW molten carbonate fuel cell with CHP, and retrofits to lighting and HVAC systems to reduce peak loads. Over the past decade, a series of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) installations and efficiency measures have been undertaken to transform the 3MW facility into a"Green Jail". It is a system that has failed the mentally ill and all the residents and taxpayers of Alameda County,” former state Senator Loni Hancock wrote in an objection.īefore Cousins approved the settlement he held two lengthy hearings in which currently and formerly incarcerated people spoke out against the settlement, appearing on video cameras via Zoom.Santa Rita Jail is a 4,500 inmate facility located in Dublin CA, approximately 40 miles (65 km) east of San Francisco. ![]() ![]() “Since Alameda County does not have (an) adequate mental health system, the jail has become the largest mental health facility in the county. ![]() Opponents of the settlement, including many current and former inhabitants, said they worried it focuses too much on preserving a system that prioritizes incarceration over mental health care. It is a massive suit with potentially tens of thousands of unknown parties, as any future inmate of the roughly 3,500-capacity jail could be affected. The agreement settles a federal class-action lawsuit that challenged “excessive use of isolation, providing an insufficient amount of out-of-cell time and programming, inadequate classification systems, and a lack of due process protections,” among other concerns, at the jail. ![]() District Judge Nathanael Scott Cousins, will increase staffing at the county’s lone adult jail, create a new unit for people with mental illness, provide new mechanisms for oversight, and set in place requirements to combat the spread of COVID-19, among other provisions listed in the 110-page document. DUBLIN - After listening to objections from attorneys, current and former inmates, and other voices in the community, a federal judge approved a controversial settlement to a lengthy lawsuit over mental health care at Santa Rita Jail.
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