MSL Leads Resilient El Rito Project

MSL is leading the Resilient El Rito project, a proposed community resilience microgrid project in the  village of El Rito, NM, based on and around the El Rito campus of Northern New Mexico College (NNMC). The village is at the end of a single electric power distribution line that traverses mountainous terrain and wilderness, and is subject to reliability and resilience challenges common to rural isolated areas, including climate-induced wildfires and winds. The project is a collaboration between NNMC and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC), the local electric utility, advised by Camus Energy (KCEC’s technology partner) and MSL.

System Architecture

The system architecture will incorporate a NNMC campus microgrid and college facilities (including commercial kitchen and dormitories), within a larger community Distribution Feeder Microgrid serving all El Rito loads, and capable of load-

shedding to support critical facilities (i.e., fire station, medical/dental clinic, elementary school, senior center, post office), in a “networked” or “nested” architecture. The existing KCEC 1.5 mW PV array located on campus would serve as the primary local generation source, to be complemented by a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and switchgear, communications, and controls technology, and possibly a baseload CHP system.

In a later phase, the system architecture could also isolate KCEC’s Tres Piedras/El Rito circuit to island and serve all loads west of the Rio Grande. We believe this system offers the potential for a unique testbed and demonstration site, supporting R&D, validation, technology commercialization, economic development, and workforce training.

The Technical Team

MSL is forming an advisory Technical Team, comprising research scientists and engineers from universities, National Labs, KCEC, and Camus Energy, and led by the Project Director (MSL President David Breecker). The Tech Team is charged with evaluating all technical aspects of the system architecture and design to ensure it will be capable of supporting instructional, operational, R&D, and technology commercialization objectives, and produce a final deliverable report that specifies design factors and requirements, essential assets, procedures, and protocols.