A microgrid project called RESCO, will be deployed at the University of California, San Diego, with help from EDSA, a developer of power analytics solutions for the design, testing and management of electrical power systems, and Viridity Energy, a smart grid company that transforms large energy consumers into virtual energy generators.

The collaboration will result in the world’s first use of real-time software systems services as a master controller in live customer installation. RESCO (Renewable Energy Secure Communities) is a project funded by the California Energy Commission.

The campus-wide microgrid serves a 1,200-acre, 450-building campus with a daily population of 45,000 people running two 13.5 megawatt gas turbines, one 3-megawatt steam turbine and a 1.2 megawatt solar-cell installation that, all together, supplies 82 percent of the campus’ annual power. EDSA and Viridity will offer their software solutions to provide optimization and energy market optimization capabilities to ensure the reliability, energy efficiency and cost efficiency of the UC San Diego microgrid. Eventually, the project expects to sell excess power to utilities, other energy users or the open market.

“While the UC San Diego microgrid is already very efficient, we think our experience with the EDSA master controller and Viridity Energy optimization software will increase our energy efficiency, further lower our carbon footprint and give us additional value by enabling our ability to buy and sell electricity when energy prices are most competitive,” stated UC San Diego’s Byron Washom, director of strategic energy initiative.

Caption: With the microgrid project in place, UC-San Diego expects to be able to sell its excess power.