加州保留地的太阳能微电网在电力供应中断时提供电力

California Reservation's Solar Microgrid Provides Power During Utility Shutoffs

加州保留地的太阳能微电网在电力供应中断时提供电力

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.

从去年10月开始，加州最大的电力公司采取了前所未有的措施，切断了数百万用户的电力供应。这一决定是为了防止电力设备引发灾难性的野火。

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

现在，在美国加州印第安人保留地建立一个可再生能源微电网被证明是解决这一持续问题的一个办法。

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.

蓝湖牧场位于加利福尼亚州尤里卡北部。在占地100英亩的校园里，就在赌场和酒店后面，贾娜·加尼昂打开了一道铁丝网围栏。

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

在这个只有半个足球场大小的区域里，有1500多块太阳能电池板斜对着正午的太阳。

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.

加尼昂是蓝湖牧场的可持续发展总监，该协会包括大约50名成员。她帮助建造了这个太阳能微电网，作为部落目标的一部分，目的是发展适应气候的基础设施，并为地震和海啸做好准备。

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

但从10月开始,它以一种全新的方式变得有用。

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

太平洋燃气电力公司(PG&E)于10月9日关闭了加州中部和北部30多个县的电力供应。

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

人们不仅在为车辆加油，而且还在为他们的家用发电机加油。基本上，在28小时的停电期间，这种情况一直在持续。

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.

作为该县仅有的几个有电的加油站之一，印第安人保留地向联合卫生服务公司提供柴油，以冷藏他们的药品，并向Mad River鱼类孵化场提供柴油，以使他们的鱼活下来。当地的报纸用旅馆的会议室来刊登第二天的报纸。当地居民停下来给手机充电。

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

据加尼昂估计，当天有超过1万名附近的居民来保留区购买汽油和物资。

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.

蓝湖兰彻里亚所在的洪堡县的应急服务经理赖安•德比说，县官员已经收到了关闭公共设施的警告，但他们直到那天才知道会发生这种事。

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

德比表示:“我们过去18个月的整个规划模式泡汤了。”

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

突然间，这个拥有13.6万人口的农村县陷入了黑暗之中。

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

德比说:“我认为，鉴于这些公共安全电力关闭，我们意识到我们是多么依赖电力。”

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

在蓝湖兰彻里亚，安妮塔·赫夫正在为有严重医疗需求的人提供紧急服务。

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

“我们这里有8个人没有电就活不下去，”赫夫说。“所以，我们救了8条生命。”

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

在洪堡州立大学Schatz能源研究中心的帮助下，该部落建造了微电网。