Monterey One Water Embarks on Feasibility Study to Eliminate Reliance on Commercial Power
The collection, treatment, and recycling of wastewater and biosolids are essential community services that require reliable access to power. With ongoing impacts from a changing climate, resilient energy solutions will be needed to ensure uninterrupted service. Monterey One Water and its project partner, ReGen Monterey, are public entities who respectively manage wastewater and non-hazardous solid wastes in northern Monterey County. The agencies have established a visionary partnership to study and establish a microgrid powered by a portfolio of onsite renewable energy sources. This project will leverage existing infrastructure and combine the entities’ resources to secure the level of energy resilience their critical, 24/7 operations require.

Both facilities currently generate renewable energy by individually harvesting their organic wastes and via solar panels at Monterey One Water. The Monterey Microgrid Feasibility Study will evaluate increasing these sources in addition to new supplies like battery storage and wind. To expand anaerobic digestion, a grant from the U.S. EPA is funding tasks within the Feasibility Study to assess combining food and other organics with wastewater solids for co-digestion at Monterey One Water. The Feasibility Study is scheduled for completion later this year and will also look at biosolids management and sustainable financial benefits of renewable energy.