TIDA Working to Modify Gymnasium
I can let you know that TIDA is currently in the process of working to modify Treasure Island Gymnasium with secondary electrical service connections so that it’s electrical service can be switched from grid power to a back-up generator, which will allow for the City to stand-up the Gymnasium as a respite location for residents during an extended on-Island power outage, even if there is a short or other damage inside the TI Distribution System itself (which is the limiting factor when considering Island-wide redundancy during an outage).
This temporary service to the Gym would be provided by a generator in order to assure any necessary length of run time and use of the building for larger loads (such as portable heaters and charging of powered medical devices). We would need to make sure that there’s consistent energy transmission into the building in such an event, and a fueled generator assures that reliability if the outage is of extended duration.
As you can imagine, standing up such a support facility can take up to several hours, considering the City’s mustering of staff, equipment and supplies necessary to activate such a resource at TI Gym. An extended on-Island outage, such as last Presidents Day, when we know there is going to be a multi-hour outage period, is the scenario for this Gym activation, as opposed to some of our more standard outages causes, such as damaged equipment, which are usually resolved in a few hours time. Nonetheless, we do see it as another step in improvement and supporting the Island community during such power outage incidents.
We will be keeping the community posted on this work over the next several months, and we are already engaged with the City’s Dept of Public Health and Human Services Agency in analyzing and understanding the various loads associated with powered-medical devices, as assuring a location for redundant charging of residents medical-devices during an extended on-Island outages is a primary focus of such a respite facility. Your comment/suggestion about the cell sites is a good one as well, we will be reaching out to the cellular carriers with on-Island cell sites to understand what their existing back-up capacity is, and advocating for them to consider improvements or upgrades to add or extend their existing back-up power for this infrastructure.
TIDA will also be distributing a message to the community today regarding our resiliency with regards to PG&E PSPS; the good news with regards to that is as PSPS impacts transmission from off-Island, we will respond to any PSPS impacts to the Island in the East Bay by activating the on-Island primary generators which will power the entire TI/YBI Distribution System and assure the Island remains energized.
Lastly, PUC asked me to clarify for you their prior statement in your communications with Emily Lam regarding their experience and prior projects with Tesla. It turns out PUC and TIDA have worked together on the San Francisco mainland on charging stations, not utility-grid-level installations or projects. Apologies for any confusion on that. As I pointed out, the White Paper discusses the limitations on PV/battery back-up at a grid-level when applying the concept to the Island grid.
Context Peter Summerville Treasure Island Development Authority (415) 274-0665 for more info Peter.Summerville@sfgov.org
