The DERP team approaches the design of public or private microgrids with the LEAP (Local Energy Assurance Planning) protocols that have been established by the federal government (through the Public Technology Institute). It is important to apply these LEAP principals, beginning with identifying the critical facilities that must be powered during an emergency/blackout – and identifying their functions, their energy requirements, various energy management options, and adding energy capacity through clean electrical energy sources of local distributed generation (DG) – power that is generated close to the critical loads and which can be managed locally.

This is an adaptation of “Form Follows Function” - each microgrid is designed for the individual application and its unique attributes.

Decision support and other planning services available:

• Integrative energy strategic planning and development including feasibility studies, site selection, power purchase agreements
• Energy assurance risk assessments, mitigation and implementation
• Renewable energy power production asset selection
• Power storage asset selection
• Project financing including community investments, tax strategies and grants
• Client and community-wide emergency education and empowerment
• System intercommunication data collection and command infrastructure

Technologies and services suitable for:

• Municipalities, farms, distribution centers, and rural small businesses
• Home owners associations, senior living and mixed-use communities
• Commercial/industrial applications 
• New and retrofit mixed-use communities 
• Institutions, private schools and college campuses

Power Continuity Unit

DERP Technologies, LLC systems, products and services help bridge the gap between today’s legacy grid and tomorrow’s smart grid. DERPTECH is focusing on designing interconnection devices and business models that bring more clean distributed electrical power into the grid at the utility local distribution network level and provide energy assurance systems through microgrids serving critical facilities and operations.

Today, DERPTECH is developing the patent-pending Power Continuity Unit (PCU). Our PCU allows the infusion of locally produced electricity in the Community Power Scale (which is in the 1-to-25 megawatt range). The PCU is a combination of proprietary software and communications devices; the combination of the PCU, storage and the community-scale distributed generation (DG) is the DERP System. DERP Systems are readily deployable and offer a variety of favorable ownership and financing opportunities.

Homeland Security Features

One of the key capabilities of the DERP System is its ability to provide a pre-determined amount of “critical load emergency power” (CLEP) when the bulk power from the grid is absent. The point of common coupling (PCC) for the PCU is on the low-voltage side of a distribution substation - typically at voltages of 13.2 KV or less. However, in special applications where there are multiple PCU systems in the same local distribution network, the networked units are capable of both forward feeds and backwards feeds, enabling specific industrial loads (such as water treatment plants) to have full power in the event of a black-out.

DERP System enables Smart Distribution Substation capabilities

• Networked PCU devices collect data through numerous sensors at each PCC
• Capable of synchronized forward feed and backward feed functions during blackouts through adaptive islanding
• Optimizes the infusion of locally produced DG power into the power mix in parallel operation with the bulk feed through distribution management and load-balancing circuits
• Reducing risk of storm related power failures:

Reducing Risk of Storm Related Power Failures:

DERPTECH is based in western Maryland in proximity to the nation’s capital. The area's grid system is very congested: options for centralized power production are diminishing due to community opposition to T & D infrastructure requirements coupled with time-value financial and permitting risk. 
It is also a region with concerns about homeland security and the prospect of blackouts and rolling brownouts as experienced from the following 2012 events:

1. Mid-Atlantic's 2012 destructive derecho, the severe thunderstorm which resulted in 18 deaths in Maryland attributed to extended electric power losses coupled with extreme heat, and,
2. Hurricane Sandy which included both coastal devastation and at least three deaths resulting from extreme snowfalls in the Appalachian regions of Maryland and West Virginia.

Microgrids Along Evacuation Highways:

The city of Frostburg, Maryland, located along the National Defense Highway, has gone on record supporting the DERPTECH solution and wants to be a beta-site. Frostburg is home to Frostburg State University. In the event of an evacuation from urban areas, Frostburg needs power continuity to accommodate evacuees and to provide public and private essential services along Main Street.

Targeting the “MUSH” Market - for Renewable Energy Generating Stations (REGS):

Community-scale distributed generation is the primary revenue-generating element of the DERP System. Power can be produced through solar, small wind, co-gen, and/or hydro turbines with each application tailored to the ongoing and critical needs of the community being served. Our DG supply is termed the REGS - Renewable Energy Generating Station. Special funding sources may be available for “MUSH” projects (Municipalities, Universities, Schools, and Hospitals). DERPTECH is also focusing its efforts to keep agricultural and food distribution systems uninterrupted during emergencies; DERPTECH recognizes farms and food-chains as critical infrastructure.

Meeting the objectives of the National Smart Grid 2030 Goals:

Our development priorities are in sync with the goals established by a federal panel representing several agencies; in the “Smart Grid R&D Multi-Year Program Plan 2030,” the federal government has set two major targets to address America’s electric power needs:

1. That 20% of the nation’s electricity capacity be derived from distributed and renewable energy sources (that equals about 200 gigawatts of power), and,
2. That 100% of electricity supply availability serves all critical loads at all times and a range of “reliability services” is available for non-critical loads.