Enchanted Rock, a leading provider of electrical resiliency-as-a-service, has announced that it has attained the California Air Resources Board Distributed Generation (CARB DG) certification for their dual-purpose microgrids, which ensure operational continuity for companies, critical infrastructure, and communities during unexpected power outages as well as grid stability services.
Enchanted Rock’s microgrids are the first reciprocating engine technology to secure this certification, which has the strictest emissions requirements in the United States.
To achieve CARB DG certification, manufacturers of electrical generation technologies must certify their technologies to specific criteria pollutant emission standards. Although most CARB DG certified technologies are microturbines and fuel cells, Enchanted Rock’s generator technology underwent rigorous testing to become the first engine of its kind to have emissions low enough to meet the necessary standards.
Enchanted Rock says that their reciprocating engine is a true resiliency asset with advantages on cost, island mode transient response, and power density over other CARB DG certified technologies. Through a combination of its low emissions and high reliability, Enchanted Rock’s natural gas generators have emerged as a more sustainable alternative to diesel counterparts, resulting in significantly lower local emissions. Enchanted Rock worked with Encino Environmental Services on emissions performance testing and analysis for the CARB DG process, to prepare the application and proceed through the certification process.
“At Enchanted Rock, our goal is to be the industry leader in providing electrical resiliency-as-a-service with an emphasis on sustainability,” said Ian Blakely, Chief Strategy Officer of Enchanted Rock. “Meeting the CARB DG requirements is validation of our continued push to provide cleanest long duration resiliency in the market, as these standards are one of the highest in the world. When our customers use our generators, they can be confident that we are not only providing world class reliability but doing so with minimal impact on the environment and public health.”
“Enchanted Rock is delivering innovative technologies and solutions to industrial and commercial markets which support Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and other long-term sustainability goals,” said Joe Etheridge Chief Technical Officer of Encino. “We are honoured to have supported their goal of attaining DG certification for both emissions performance and commercial optimisation.”
Enchanted Rock recently announced that Microsoft will be utilising these ultra-low emission generators to provide electrical resiliency services for their new data centre in San Jose, CA. Power for the microgrid will be supplied by net-zero carbon renewable natural gas, injected upstream into the gas pipeline to offset the use of fossil gas. With hourly local emissions 80 to 96 per cent lower than EPA Tier 4 diesel standards while delivering higher reliability, widespread adoption of natural gas in place of diesel could help ensure that data centres do not carry negative health impacts for the communities where they operate.
