加州保留地的太陽能微電網在電力供應中斷時提供電力

California Reservation's Solar Microgrid Provides Power During Utility Shutoffs

加州保留地的太陽能微電網在電力供應中斷時提供電力

California's largest electric utility took the unprecedented step of shutting off power to millions of customers beginning last October. The decision was meant to prevent power equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires.

從去年10月開始，加州最大的電力公司采取了前所未有的措施，切斷了數百萬用戶的電力供應。這一決定是為了防止電力設備引發(fā)災難性的野火。

Now a renewable energy microgrid on a tiny California Native American reservation is proving to be one solution to this ongoing problem.

現在，在美國加州印第安人保留地建立一個可再生能源微電網被證明是解決這一持續(xù)問題的一個辦法。

The Blue Lake Rancheria is located just north of Eureka, Calif. On the 100-acre campus, just behind the casino and hotel, Jana Ganion opens a chain-link fence.

藍湖牧場位于加利福尼亞州尤里卡北部。在占地100英畝的校園里，就在賭場和酒店后面，賈娜·加尼昂打開了一道鐵絲網圍欄。

Inside, in an area half the size of a football field, are more than 1.500 solar panels, slanted toward the noonday sun.

在這個只有半個足球場大小的區(qū)域里，有1500多塊太陽能電池板斜對著正午的太陽。

Ganion is the sustainability director with the Blue Lake Rancheria, which includes about 50 members. She helped build this solar microgrid as part of the tribe's goal to develop climate-resilient infrastructure and to be ready for earthquakes and tsunamis.

加尼昂是藍湖牧場的可持續(xù)發(fā)展總監(jiān)，該協(xié)會包括大約50名成員。她幫助建造了這個太陽能微電網，作為部落目標的一部分，目的是發(fā)展適應氣候的基礎設施，并為地震和海嘯做好準備。

But then beginning in October, it became useful in a whole new way.

但從10月開始,它以一種全新的方式變得有用。

The utility, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), shut off power to more than 30 counties in Central and Northern California on Oct. 9.

太平洋燃氣電力公司(PG&E)于10月9日關閉了加州中部和北部30多個縣的電力供應。

People were fueling up vehicles, but also their home generators. That continued, basically, for the duration of the 28-hour outage.

人們不僅在為車輛加油，而且還在為他們的家用發(fā)電機加油?；旧希?8小時的停電期間，這種情況一直在持續(xù)。

As one of the only gas stations in the county with power, the reservation provided diesel 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 to put out the next day's paper. Area residents stopped by to charge their cell phones.

作為該縣僅有的幾個有電的加油站之一，印第安人保留地向聯合衛(wèi)生服務公司提供柴油，以冷藏他們的藥品，并向Mad River魚類孵化場提供柴油，以使他們的魚活下來。當地的報紙用旅館的會議室來刊登第二天的報紙。當地居民停下來給手機充電。

Ganion estimates that on that day more than 10.000 nearby residents came to the reservation for gas and supplies.

據加尼昂估計，當天有超過1萬名附近的居民來保留區(qū)購買汽油和物資。

County officials had been warned about the utility shutoffs, but they didn't know they were happening until that day, says Ryan Derby, emergency services manager for Humboldt County, where Blue Lake Rancheria is located.

藍湖蘭徹里亞所在的洪堡縣的應急服務經理賴安•德比說，縣官員已經收到了關閉公共設施的警告，但他們直到那天才知道會發(fā)生這種事。

"Our entire planning model for the last 18 months got thrown out the window," Derby says.

德比表示:“我們過去18個月的整個規(guī)劃模式泡湯了。”

Suddenly, the rural county of 136.000 people was in the dark.

突然間，這個擁有13.6萬人口的農村縣陷入了黑暗之中。

Derby says, " I think in light of these public safety power shutoffs we realized how dependent we really are on electricity."

德比說:“我認為，鑒于這些公共安全電力關閉，我們意識到我們是多么依賴電力。”

At the Blue Lake Rancheria, Anita Huff was directing emergency services for people with critical medical needs.

在藍湖蘭徹里亞，安妮塔·赫夫正在為有嚴重醫(yī)療需求的人提供緊急服務。

"We had eight people here who could not have lived without electricity," Huff says. "So, we saved eight lives."

“我們這里有8個人沒有電就活不下去，”赫夫說。“所以，我們救了8條生命。”

The tribe built the microgrid with help from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University.

在洪堡州立大學Schatz能源研究中心的幫助下，該部落建造了微電網。