North Bay Business Journal – 2 major microgrid solar-battery storage projects underway in the Sonoma, Napa counties

When the Kincade Fire roared through Sonoma County in 2019, the massive power failures forced the U.S. Coast Guard to shut down its training facility near Petaluma, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, for five days.

The center trains 3,500 students a year, employs 350 people and is home to 500 families.

Before the fire, the Coast Guard had installed 855-kilowatt solar panels providing 1-megawatt hour on the campus. But the agency has never had the capability to store power for use in emergency situations.

But now the Coast Guard has broken ground on a microgrid solar storage project designed to power the 837-acre, 810,000-square-foot Tracen training center, which will keep the facility operating in wildfires and planned power outages.

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