ESTIMATING THE LIFE CYCLE COST OF MICROGRID RESILIENCE

The Department of Defense has placed significant emphasis on the importance of a stable and secure energy infrastructure system. The Department of the Navy (DoN) defines energy security as consisting of three components, namely reliability, efficiency, and resilience. One of the ways the DoN improves resilience in installation electrical energy systems is by using microgrids. The relationship between microgrid resilience and cost is not well explored in existing research. This thesis develops a seven-step process to estimate the cost of microgrid resilience using design of experiments and regression analysis. The process is designed to be used by installation energy managers when considering the installation or upgrade of a microgrid. The process is demonstrated in a case study using net present value to quantify life cycle cost and expected life cycle mission impact to quantify resilience. The case study analyzes a microgrid representative of a portion of the electrical distribution system at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, which is made up of multiple diesel generators, a large photovoltaic array, an energy storage system, several loads, and a utility grid connection. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the process developed in this thesis and the importance of understanding the cost of microgrid resilience to inform decisions about the necessary distributed energy resources that make up a specific microgrid architecture.Outstanding ThesisLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. distribution is unlimite