美国国家公共电台 NPR Reservation's Solar Microgrid Aids Community During Power Shu

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In recent months, California's biggest electric utility's been taking the unprecedented¹ step of shutting off power to millions. The move is meant to prevent power equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires. Jefferson Public Radio's Erik Neumann reports on a renewable energy microgrid that's proving to be one solution to this ongoing³ problem.

ERIK NEUMANN, BYLINE⁴: The Blue Lake Rancheria tribe lives just north of Eureka, Calif. Behind the tribe's casino and hotel, Jana Ganion opens a chain-link fence.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHAIN LINKS JINGLING)

NEUMANN: Inside are more than 1,500 solar panels slanted⁵ toward the noonday sun.

JANA GANION: We're up just a little on a little platform that can oversee⁶ most of the array.

NEUMANN: Ganion is the sustainability director with the Blue Lake Rancheria tribe.

GANION: This is the view that I like the best.

NEUMANN: Ganion helped build this solar microgrid as part of the tribe's goal to have climate-resilient infrastructure⁷ and to be ready for earthquakes and tsunamis⁸. But then, beginning in October, it became useful in a whole new way. The utility Pacific Gas and Electric, or PG&E, shut off power to more than 30 counties in central and northern California on October 9.

GANION: We had probably 30- to 45-minute gas lines - people that were fueling up vehicles but also their home generators⁹. That continued basically for the duration of the 28-hour outage.

NEUMANN: As one of the only gas stations with power, they gave diesel¹⁰ to United Indian Health Services to refrigerate their medications and to the Mad River Fish Hatchery to keep their fish alive. The local newspaper used a hotel conference room. Area residents stopped by to charge their cellphones. They estimate that on that day, more than 10,000 nearby residents came to the reservation for gas and supplies.

Ryan Derby is the emergency services manager for Humboldt County. He says they'd been warned about these shut-offs but didn't know they were happening until that day.

RYAN DERBY: So our entire planning model, you know, for the last 18 months got thrown out the window.

NEUMANN: Suddenly, Humboldt, a county of 136,000 people, was in the dark.

DERBY: Humboldt County prides itself on being resilient. But I think in light of these public safety power shut-offs, we realized how dependent we really are on electricity.

NEUMANN: The county focused on people who relied on medical devices, like respirators or oxygen tanks. At the Rancheria, Anita Huff was directing emergency services for people with critical medical needs.

ANITA HUFF: We had eight people in here who could not have lived without electricity. So we saved eight lives.

NEUMANN: The tribe built the microgrid with help from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University. Dave Carter was the lead technical engineer.

DAVE CARTER: Microgrids are very complex. And they're - in some ways, they're kind of like snowflakes, where there's - no two of them are the same because it depends on where you are on the grid² and what your facility is.

NEUMANN: Microgrids keep the energy flowing to customers even after disconnecting from the overall power grid. The Blue Lake microgrid goes into island mode and a large Tesla battery system balances energy supply and demand. By comparison, conventional solar arrays have to automatically shut down during outages so they don't electrocute power line workers.

Microgrids do come at a cost. This one was $6.3 million. Jana Ganion with the Blue Lake Rancheria says with future electricity shut-offs, rural communities need to be especially resilient. And that's true for reservations, as well.

GANION: Many, many tribal¹¹ nations are located at the end of the line in terms of the electricity grid. They may have no power. They may have poor-quality power. And microgrids are a way to just do an end run around all of that.

NEUMANN: Last month, PG&E announced it's soliciting¹² bids to build 20 new microgrids near utility substations that could be affected¹³ by future power shut-offs. They're hoping to have them running by next fall, the season with high winds and extreme fire risk.

For NPR News, I'm Erik Neumann in Blue Lake, Calif.

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 slanted   

有偏见的； 倾斜的

参考例句：

• The sun slanted through the window. 太阳斜照进窗户。
• She had slanted brown eyes. 她有一双棕色的丹凤眼。

6 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

9 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

11 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

12 soliciting   

v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求

参考例句：

• A prostitute was soliciting on the street. 一名妓女正在街上拉客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China Daily is soliciting subscriptions. 《中国日报》正在征求订户。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。