Comparison of Conventional Diesel and Mobile Solar Hybrid Power Generators in Long-Term Temporary Power Applications

摘要

Mobile hybrid power generators and small-scale, portable hybrid microgrids (a combination of solar power, solar storage, and diesel backup power) are a new, disruptive technology applicable for temporary power applications where power reliability and quality, cost of fuel, and maintenance, as well as environmental impact are driving factors. However, with very few vendors and no comprehensive application track record, the technology first demonstrated after Superstorm Sandy in 2013 has not yet become widespread. Following the devastating 2017 hurricanes in the Caribbean, Louis Berger, as a United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Advanced Contracting Initiative (AO) contractor, undertook the largest and longest temporary power mission in world history—in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, having performed over 2,000 generator installations and provided fueling, maintenance, and repair for the deployed fleet for well over 12 months. This provided a unique opportunity to run a long-term pilot of mobile hybrid power systems in parallel to the core mission, collecting necessary application and use data for a mission-level assessment of the new technology against the baseline of conventional mobile diesel power generators.