Lowest-Cost Clean, Long-duration Electrical Resiliency for Water Utilities
Water utilities must operate with fiscal clarity and transparency and find ways to reduce operations’ impact on the environment. This mission is complicated by hurricanes, wildfires, drought, supply chain failures, and the pressure to reduce expenditures and find new ways of doing business. Bottom line: water utilities can’t afford to lose facility power and stop operations that supply critical needs to their communities.
That’s why for over 13 years, Enchanted Rock has provided water utilities with reliable, full facility backup power. We’ve provided reliable backup power to the City of Houston, San Antonio Water Service, Gulf Coast Water Authority, North Fort Bend Water Authority, Fort Bend County LID2 (FBCLID2), Coastal Water Authority, and many others with over 170 MW of backup power at water utilities.
The Enchanted Rock Solution for Water Utilities
We provide utility-grade backup power generation, achieving 99.9995% reliability for mission-critical operations like yours. Our systems serve as a cleaner, more reliable and more cost-effective alternative to diesel backup.
Why Water Utilities Choose Enchanted Rock
- Low upfront costs: Unlike diesel backup, upfront costs can be as little as 10-20% of the system cost due to our participation in energy markets when the system is not needed for backup.
- Expert O&M and 24/7 monitoring included: Enchanted Rock provides ongoing operations & maintenance (O&M) throughout the typical 15 or 20-year contract lifespan.
- Turnkey solution: Enchanted Rock designs, builds, finances, owns, operates, and maintains the entire backup generation solution.
- Long-duration resiliency: Underground supply of natural gas fuels the microgrid, eliminating refueling risk and need for onsite storage.
- Low emissions & sound: Local emissions are 100X lower than standard tier 2 diesel backup and operation is much quieter thanks to patented genset.
- Eligible for government incentives: Microgrid systems are eligible for programs like Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) Program, Distributed Electricity Backup Assets (DEBA) Program, and the Base Interruptible Power (BIP) Program.
Water Utility Projects
City of Houston Implements Largest US Microgrid Project for Water Purification Plant
City of Houston Northeast Water Purification Plant
Enchanted Rock provides 32 MW (32,000 kW) of backup power at the Northeast Water Purification Plant, resulting in impressive cost savings of over $20 million in capital expenses for the city.
“The NEWPP project will add 320 million gallons per day by 2024 to the existing water plant’s capacity,” said Ravi Kaleyatodi, P.E., Project Director, NEWPP Expansion Project, at City of Houston. “The City of Houston evaluated several companies and selected Enchanted Rock for this project based on technical requirements, performance of past projects, and competitive pricing.”
California Department of Water Resources
Enchanted Rock contracted with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to build and operate three front-of-the-meter projects for 148 MW through the state’s Electricity Strategic Reliability Reserve Program. DWR is partnering with Enchanted Rock to deliver three commissioned 48 MW plants of fast-response, dispatchable dual-purpose microgrids in 2024.
Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District 2
Enchanted Rock provides 12 MW (12,000 kW) of reliable backup power at a stormwater pumping facility. This initiative translated into savings of $7,000,000 in upfront capital for the authority.
“We are relieved to find such an effortless solution that addresses our reliability needs,” said André McDonald, LID 2 Board President. “We feel confident knowing that our community will be better protected from flooding during severe weather events and utility power outages.”
Related Resources
WEBINAR
Enchanted Rock – Microgrids for Water and Wastewater Facilities
WHITEPAPER
Microgrid Knowledge: The Affordable Microgrid
ARTICLE
Enchanted Rock to Install Largest Water Pumping Microgrid in US
WEBINAR
Recorded Webinar: AWWA Power Resilience and Planning for Black Sky Events
