Schneider Electric and Faith Technologies to Build and Support Advanced Microgrid at Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve

ANDOVER, Mass., Sept. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, will work with Faith Technologies to deploy an advanced microgrid at the new, state-of-the-art environmental center at the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve.

The fully islandable microgrid will provide power to the non-profit nature preserve's 18,000 square-foot environmental center and help meet its resiliency and sustainability goals. The environmental center will deploy Schneider Electric Energy Control Center and EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor to manage and optimize the integration and use of distributed energy resources (DER) powering its microgrid. Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor manages all its DER while offering remote monitoring, real-time energy price management, demand response requests, peak shaving, CO2 tracking and storm hardening services.

The decentralization of energy production, a desire for decarbonization and an increased digitization of assets have changed the dynamics of energy generation for the grid and spurred growth in DER use. In this new energy landscape, customers like the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve are working with partners such as Faith Technologies and Schneider Electric to build smarter, cleaner energy infrastructure and maximize the use of DER to achieve their resiliency and sustainability goals.

"With its combination of innovative hardware and software solutions, the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve will have one of the most advanced microgrids in the world, advancing the Preserve's ability to manage its production and consumption of renewable energy and control energy spend," said Philip Barton, Director of Schneider Electric's Microgrid Competency Center. "By using tools like Schneider Electric Energy Control Center and EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor and marrying the Internet of Things to its energy system, the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve microgrid can take control of its energy future, optimizing when it consumes, produces or stores energy to achieve the highest levels of sustainability, reliability and efficiency."

The integration of the Schneider Electric Energy Control Center enhances the microgrid's control, simplifying the adoption of solar, cogeneration and energy storage, and enabling management of DER through its intelligent power control center. Designed for flexible DER integration in commercial, industrial and institutional facilities, the Schneider Electric Energy Control Center is future-proof and scalable, allowing flexibility and modularity for the facility's energy infrastructure to adopt other generation resources or provide different functions in the future.

Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor, a cloud-based, demand-side energy management software platform, simplifies the integration of DER and allows facility managers and microgrid operators to collect, forecast and automatically optimize the operation of DER using predictive algorithms. When integrated with onsite hardware such as Energy Control Center, the software-as-a-service platform communicates with multiple energy management solutions via an interactive web interface to provide a comprehensive view of the entire nature preserve's energy profile. It can incorporate real-time data from sources such as PV, building load, EV charging, HVAC system, battery storage, cogeneration and backup natural gas generation to autonomously optimize energy usage across all DER. It then displays information via an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, supporting energy reliability and efficiency.

"This project represents a forward-looking use case of energy systems that aim to establish a more resilient, efficient, economic and cleaner grid," said Mike Jansen, CEO of Faith Technologies. "The advanced control features integrated with Bubolz Nature Preserve's microgrid will benefit the facility and local community, supporting the development of a more intelligent and sustainable energy system."

Located in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve has a mission to teach environmental ethics through education, recreation and conservation. The environmental center microgrid will serve as a demonstration center to test and measure the impact of microgrid technologies in a real-world environment and support the Bubolz Nature Preserve mission. It is expected to be completed by December 2017.

Schneider Electric Energy Control Center and EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor are being deployed across various utility, industrial, commercial, government and university campuses worldwide. For more information about Schneider Electric's advanced microgrid solutions and projects, please visit www.schneider-electric.us/microgrid.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is the global specialist in energy management and automation. With revenues of $26 billion US dollars (25 billion euros) in FY2016, our 144,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and process in ways that are safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape industries, transform cities and enrich lives. At Schneider Electric, we call this Life Is On.

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