State officials and local leaders gathered at the Humboldt County airport in McKinleyville on Wednesday for a groundbreaking ceremony unveiling the airport’s renewable energy microgrid. The microgrid will provide clean energy to Humboldt County and serve as a lifeline in the event of a natural disaster once the site becomes fully operational in early 2022.
The microgrid was designed and developed by the Schatz Energy Research Center and Humboldt State University and is part of an interagency partnership between the Redwood Coast Energy Authority and PG&E.
“This type of project will hopefully be a catalyst for the transition to clean energy but also a more resilient and more robust energy system in the future,” said Redwood Coast Energy Authority executive director Matthew Marshall. “There doesn’t need to be a choice between reliability and decarbonization and renewables, we don’t need to compromise resilience, we can actually enhance resilience by transitioning off of fossil fuels to renewables.”
HSU Schatz Energy Research Center founding director Peter Lehman said the airport’s microgrid is the first front-of-the-meter, multi-customer renewable microgrid in the state.
“When you hear the news these days — fires, heatwaves and hurricanes — it’s pretty easy to go to a dark place when you realize how quickly our Earth is changing and how daunting the challenges are that we all face,” Lehman said. “But this microgrid is a bright light. Right behind me here is the technology that we need to both mitigate climate change and adapt to its challenges.”
North Coast U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) praised the county’s positive step forward in combatting climate change.
“We’ve got extreme heat, wind-driven wildfires, water shortages and increasingly we’re concerned about the condition of our roads, bridges and airports. The playbook on infrastructure really has to get rewritten. This project checks all of those boxes and more,” Huffman said. “… Perhaps most importantly, this ingenious system will provide a blueprint for other microgrids around the state and around the country which is going to make it easier for other communities to do the same thing we’re doing here in Humboldt County.”
Cody Roggatz, Humboldt County’s aviation director, underscored the three p’s: patience, people and posts.
“It took a lot of patience from a lot of people in the crowd and a lot of partners we have, as well as patience in myself and the county of Humboldt to get those posts in the ground that we have here today,” Roggatz said, gesturing to the field of posts behind him which will make up the future solar array. “There have been hundreds of people involved in this project but millions will be impacted.”
California Public Utilities Commissioner Darcie Houck said the microgrid will enable the county to maintain power during a disaster or a public safety power shutoff. The microgrid’s solar arrays will be able to run independently for at least two weeks. Even in the worst solar conditions, the microgrid will be able to provide up to 24 hours of backup power for the airport and the Coast Guard station.
“Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of natural disasters, highlighting the importance of keeping critical facilities operating during emergency situations,” Houck said, adding that the project prompted the CPUC to better inform its own microgrid policies. “Humboldt County is at the forefront of demonstrating what microgrids can do for California.”
The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s microgrid served as one of the only significant sources of power in Humboldt County when PG&E began the public safety power shutoffs in 2019. Jason Ramos, Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe councilmember, underscored the importance of self-reliance.
“At the Blue Lake Rancheria, we have a belief that we have to take care of our land, that we don’t just take from the land but we give something back,” he said. “We believe that we’re the original stewards of our land and we’re serious about low carbon energy projects that help support the land and protect it. Microgrids do that for us. Microgrids also do another thing that is near and dear to our cultural beliefs and that’s the belief that we have a principle of self-reliance and of self-determination of our own tribal sovereignty.”
Students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – better known as STEM – are a crucial part of moving toward a cleaner future, Ramos said.
HSU President Tom Jackson said HSU’s potential polytechnical designation would reinforce the university’s STEM fields.
“The students today will be the ones working beside many of you tomorrow, making a difference in our community, region and state,” Jackson said. “To put it another way, the cure for AIDS, the cure for Alzheimer’s disease, the creation of the next battery or the creation of the next energy source and so much more will be from a college graduate. That college graduate may very well already be at Humboldt State University.”
More information can be found at schatzcenter.org/acv.
Isabella Vanderheiden can be reached at 707-441-0504.
