LIVERMORE, Calif. — The California Energy Commission awarded $1.7 million to a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Cool Earth Solar Inc. (CES) to conduct a community-scale renewable energy integration demonstration project at the Livermore Valley Open Campus in California. CES is the prime awardee and is contributing an additional $1 million in matching funds to the CEC amount, while LLNL will provide advanced research and development support for the effort.

The project will test and demonstrate a model for how communities can optimize their use of solar energy by forecasting their solar generation and using energy management tools to adapt to that forecast. The net result will be a community that is able to reduce its total electricity consumption and rely more on clean, locally available renewable resources.

LLNL will contribute advanced solar forecasting and building energy management tools for improved efficiency and peak load shaving, while Cool Earth Solar, also located in the city of Livermore, will provide concentrating photovoltaic technology. By accurately forecasting the timing and amount of solar generation in a community setting, the project aims to demonstrate that a community can achieve higher penetrations of solar power on its distribution grid.