News Briefs: Water Agency to Test Drive New Tesla Battery

In this week's news, Tesla and Boeing get their feet wet in the municipal sewer and water industry, and the Metropolitan Water District develops a wastewater recycling program designed to recharge groundwater.
News Briefs: Water Agency to Test Drive New Tesla Battery

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Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), which serves western San Bernadino County in Southern California, is undertaking what it calls a “landmark water-energy project” with expectations of reducing total energy costs for IEUA by 5 to 10 percent — while employing a Tesla Motors PowerPack.

IEUA is integrating energy storage into its operations, which is expected to reduce its peak demand, lower energy costs and keep facilities running in the event of a power outage.

“We are proud of our investments in energy efficiency, renewable generation and sustainable water management practices,” says IEUA Board President Terry Catlin. “Energy storage is the key to maximizing the value of those investments, allowing us to use our resources more efficiently, reduce costs for our customers and participate in building a more resilient electric grid for the whole region.”

The storage systems will range from 150 kW to 1,250 kW and will be custom-designed to optimize the utility’s solar, wind and biogas on-site energy generation. Stored energy will be used when energy prices are higher or in the event of an outage, Industry Dive reports.

Source: Utility Dive

District OKs Plan to Develop Wastewater Recycling Program
Instead of discharging treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board of Directors approved a plan to explore a large-scale regional treatment project to purify that wastewater and use it to recharge local groundwater basins.

The board authorized an agreement with the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County to develop a 1 million gpd demonstration plant and feasibility studies, for a price tag of $15 million.

This partnership would allow Metropolitan to produce up to 168,000 acre-feet per year at the sanitation district’s Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, along with about 30 miles of distribution pipelines to replenish groundwater basins in Los Angeles and Orange counties, L.A. Biz reports.

“The purified water produced by this program would represent a new drought-proof supply to help replenish the region’s groundwater basins, which typically produce about a third of Southern California’s overall water needs,” Metropolitan Chairman Randy Record said in a statement. “Diversifying the region’s supply sources, advancing conservation and maintaining our imported suppliers are all critical and complementary parts of our long-term water plan for Southern California.”

Source: L.A. Biz

Boeing Announces Permeable Pavement Partnership
Boeing is partnering up with the Washington Stormwater Center and providing a $212,000 research grant and recycled carbon fiber composite material for research work at Washington State University to develop stronger permeable pavement.

The donation contributes to the effort of reducing the flow of stormwater runoff and helping filter pollutants from the water, funding research of using carbon fiber composites in porous pavement material in high-volume roadway applications.

“Water is one of our most precious resources, and we need to treat it as such,” says Ursula English, vice president, Boeing Environment, Health & Safety. “We are pleased to provide recyclable composite material from our production line to assist in this vital and innovative research. Creating the opportunity to expand the use of permeable pavement is good for the environment and the communities in which we live and work.”

Source: Equipment World



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