Spokane Connected Communities Project

Project Title: Spokane Connected Communities Project
Partners: Avista Utilities, McKinstry, PNNL, and Urbanova
Planned Location of Buildings: Spokane, WA
Building types: Up to 125 total buildings consisting of 50-75 existing single family and multi-family residential homes and 25-50 commercial buildings
New or retrofit buildings: Retrofit buildings
EE target: Targeting a 7.5-15% improvement representing a 440-900 MWh reduction in annual energy savings
Total load: N/A
DERs planned: rooftop PV (300kW), battery storage systems, EV charging infrastructure (30-40 units)
Flexible Loads: Target 1.0–2.3 MW of flexible load through rooftop PV, HVAC systems, connected lighting and electric and heat pump water heaters in commercial buildings, and air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters and smart thermostats in residential homes
Grid issues addressed: This project will help defer or avoid major capital investments in a 55MW-peak distribution substation
Grid services planned: Focus on GS to support distribution level to optimize capacity, improve resilience, and improve efficiency at Avista’s 3rd and Hatch substation in Spokane. The project will demonstrate non-wires alternatives (NWA) that support deferring or avoiding major capital investments in distribution grid infrastructure by creating targeted (location specific) virtual power plants (VPP) from existing buildings associated with feeder segments that can be scheduled, forecasted and dispatched by the utility. Grid services (GS) that alleviate capacity constraints, maximize capacity utilization, provide load shaping, increase distribution efficiency, improve resiliency, increase renewable energy generation, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhance relief and outage recovery. Additionally, volt-ampere reactive (VAR) and voltage management will be enhanced to reduce losses and consumption, and increase operational efficiency.