Demonstration of Community Scale Generation System at the Chemehuevi Community Center

This project engineered, installed, and demonstrated a solar photovoltaic system and a battery energy-storage system to integrate and manage energy peak reductions, load shifting, demand response, and load control at the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe Reservation Community Center. The demonstration site consists of a single facility with average energy consumption 100,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The facility is a designated emergency response center and provides a variety of services to the Chemehuevi community members. The project features the design and development of a custom energy-management system by University of California, Riverside, with the objectives of reducing overall electricity costs, utilizing renewable solar energy efficiently, and providing additional energy resiliency to the Chemehuevi Community Center building. The project resulted in annual renewable energy generation of 143,368 kilowatt-hours of electricity, annual electricity bill savings of $11,042, a total annual monthly peak-demand reduction of 69 kilowatts, and an annual reduction of 47,455 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from grid electricity.