Cutting-edge Project Will Help Address California’s Water-Energy Nexus

IRVINE and SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Clean tech energy storage leader Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) and the Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) today announced a public-private partnership to install the largest network of energy storage systems at a public water agency in the United States. The cutting-edge grid support project will enable the public water agency to store energy, making it available to reduce demand from the grid when requested by the utility without interrupting water treatment operations and reducing the need for additional supply from fossil fuel generation in a region challenged by the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

This innovative partnership puts IRWD at the forefront of addressing one of California’s great environmental challenges – the “water/energy nexus.” Water and energy use are inextricably intertwined – the pumping, treatment and distribution of water requires significant amounts of electricity. Public water agencies are aggressively exploring how best to smooth high energy demands, decrease costs and reduce their carbon footprints.

The system will provide IRWD cost savings of more than $500,000 per year, help stabilize and balance demand on the strapped Southern California electrical grid and ultimately advance IRWD’s sustainability efforts.

“Our agency has stepped forward with an innovative solution designed to protect customers while helping to reduce and better balance Southern California’s energy demands,” said IRWD board president Mary Aileen Matheis. “This battery storage system – the largest in the nation – provides significant cost savings, enhanced grid stability and contributes to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and a smaller carbon footprint.”

“We’re proud to partner with IRWD on such an advanced, clean energy project,” said Susan Kennedy, CEO of AMS. “This energy storage system builds on IRWD’s sustainability and efficiency commitment, taking it to a new level in tackling the water-energy nexus.”

The 6.25 MW / 35.7 MWh network will utilize Tesla batteries, installed at 6 of IRWD’s largest and most energy-intensive facilities – including three water treatment and recycling plants, a deep aquifer treatment system, a groundwater desalter facility and six high-energy pumping stations – as part of a major grid modernization project for Southern California Edison (SCE). The energy storage systems will be linked together as a network providing IRWD facility managers real time visibility and operational flexibility in responding to utility requests for demand reduction.

According to the California Energy Commission, the transportation and treatment of water, treatment and disposal of wastewater, and the energy used to heat and consume water account for nearly 20 percent of the total electricity and 30 percent of non-power plant related natural gas consumed in California.

IRWD is already a national leader in sustainability and energy efficiency. In 2015, the District commissioned a groundbreaking study to examine the average amount of energy needed to transport, treat and deliver water to customers on a per unit basis (kWh/AF). Each facility, a pump station or treatment plant for example, has its own “Energy Intensity.” The study provides IRWD with a complete view of its water-energy footprint and will be used with the energy storage systems to reduce the District’s energy and carbon footprint while reducing costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. This is the first instance of a public water agency actively commissioning such research.

The IRWD-AMS Project is supported by a 10-year power-purchase agreement with SCE. Under that agreement, AMS will design, finance, install and operate energy storage systems at IRWD facilities and manage requests from SCE for load reduction at IRWD’s facilities when needed to balance the grid.

“Our utility-scale contracts make possible the realization of guaranteed savings and accomplishment for organizations – particularly public water agencies such as IRWD – with serious energy and emissions reduction goals,” added Kennedy.

About Advanced Microgrid Solutions

Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) is pioneering the use of advanced energy storage systems for electric utility grid support. The company designs, finances, installs and manages advanced energy storage solutions for commercial, industrial and government building owners. AMS’s unique fleet management software provides optimized resource management, cost reduction and revenue generation for large-scale energy users. To learn more, visit www.advmicrogrid.com.

About Irvine Ranch Water District

Irvine Ranch Water District is the largest retail water agency in Orange County, California. Established in 1961, IRWD provides high-quality drinking water, reliable wastewater collection and treatment, ground-breaking recycled water programs, and environmentally sound urban runoff treatment to more than 390,000 residents. As an independent, not-for-profit public agency, IRWD is governed by a five-member publicly elected Board of Directors. To learn more, visit www.irwd.com. A PDF of this article is available here.

Whether it’s a shopping cart, construction debris, soda cans or other garbage, getting those items out of creeks and rivers before it’s dumped onto the beach is the mission of Inner-Coastal Watershed Clean Up Day on the third Saturday in September.

The event coincides with Coastal Clean Up Day, but instead of fanning out on the shoreline, volunteers gather to clean inland tributaries – like San Diego Creek in Irvine, for example. Irvine Ranch Water District hosted a cleanup site at San Diego Creek, adjacent to the Michelson Water Recycling Plant, for the 16^th consecutive year.

Trails 4All has organized the Inner-Coastal Clean Up for 20 years.

More than 100 volunteers gathered to clean up the creek and found a bounty of treasure hidden in the weeds. A group from teacher Angie Oliveras’ Northwood High School advanced placement environmental science class unearthed the grand prize – a couch. Another group from Northwood found a shopping cart and a tent – that showed signs it had been lived in at one time.

Members of Boy Scout Troop 818 found another shopping cart and an airline ticket from two months ago. Other items of interest were construction debris that might have fallen off trucks on the freeway, cans, bottles, cigarette butts, plastic bags, golf balls, a pool ball and a cart wheel, a portion of a Rubick’s cube, pieces of metal and host of fast food containers.

Rick and Jon Lyman were a father and son team. Jon, 17, attends University High School.

“This is something we can do together,” Rick said, placing their filled bags into the trash bin.

“Now, we’re off for doughnuts,” Jon added.

Ban Campbell, a youth pastor, brought several young people from his church and they filled several bags.

“This is a great experience,” he said.

Students participating could receive service hours for their efforts. Over the years, more than 30,000 volunteers have cleaned up one million pounds of trash and recyclables at sites in Orange and Riverside counties.

Looking for expert landscape advise? Come to the annual Urban Landscape and Garden Education Expo on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.

The facility is located at 7601 Irvine Boulevard. This is the sixth consecutive year that UC Extension and Irvine Ranch Water District cooperated on this event.

Included in the daylong event are guided garden walks, discussions about gardening and irrigation practices, and plant sales. Fifty percent of all household water use is in the yard, so residents can find out how to cut back on watering and save money.

There is no charge for admission to this event. Here is a sampling of what customers can expect at the Open House:

• Visit with gardening industry vendors
• Attend presentations by UC researchers and landscape aficionados
• Check out the various demonstrations throughout the day
• Learn about composting, irrigation and container planting
• Children’s activity – planting seeds
• Sample varieties of fruit grown at the South Coast Research and Extension Center
• Free tool sharpening (limit two small garden tools)
• Random opportunity drawings throughout the day

Visit the South Coast Research and Extension Center website, or contact Tammy Majcherek tjmajcherek@ucanr.edu for more information.

All that trash that winds up on our shores isn’t necessarily left there by careless beach-goers, it might have been tossed onto the ground many miles away. Then it might have found its way into a storm drain, which eventually empties onto the beach.

This is the premise behind Inner-Coastal Watershed Clean Up Day, now in its 20^th year.

Irvine Ranch Water District will host a clean up site for the 16th consecutive year on Saturday, September 17. Drop by the site on Riparian View, just off Michelson Drive, to do your part in helping the environment. The clean up is slated for 8:30 a.m. to noon and no pre-registration is required.

The site is one of 23 such sites that span the foothills to the coast. IRWD joins forces with Trails 4All, which conceived the idea of Inner-Coastal Watershed Clean Up Day in conjunction with Coastal Clean Up Day 20 years ago.

Over the years, thousands of volunteers have participated in cleaning up more than one million pounds of trash and recyclable materials.

Nearly all of inland Orange County is covered, much of the Coyote Creek Watershed along the Los Angeles and Orange County border, and expansion continues upwards along the greater Santa Ana River Watershed.

While Coastal Clean Up Day focuses on cleaning trash from the beach, Inner-Coastal Watershed Clean Up Day concentrates on getting trash out of the tributaries before it hits the beach. Trash dropped on the street ends up in storm drains and eventually finds itself on the coastline.

IRWD’s site is located off Michelson Drive on Riparian View, adjacent San Diego Creek and the San Joaquin Marsh. Please wear closed-toed flat shoes, hats, sunscreen and insect repellant. The entire family is invited to learn about environmental stewardship and students can receive community service hours for their participation.

More information on IRWD environmental programs is available on our website.