Microgrids Summit for Manufacturing Plants

The problem: A new titanium melt plant needed steady power that would grow from about 18 MW to full capacity by 2027.

Published result: BHE Renewables is building, and will own and run, 106 MW of solar and a 50 MW / 260.5 MWh battery, selling the power to TIMET under a PPA; designed to supply 70% of the plant’s power, first phase running since May 2025 (projected; as reported by BHE Renewables).

Invited: BHE Renewables, with TIMET (Precision Castparts) · Read the published case

The problem: High power costs and storm outages put production at risk after Hurricane Maria.

Published result: Enel North America built, owns and runs 5 MWac of solar, a 1.1 MW battery and the plant’s existing generators as a service; it can island in an outage. Costs down nearly 20%, about 7,100 metric tons of CO2 avoided a year, more than half the plant’s energy (projected; as reported by Enel North America and Eaton).

Invited: Enel North America, with Eaton · Read the published case

The problem: Six energy-hungry bakeries faced rising California power costs and rolling outages.

Published result: GreenStruxure designed, built and now runs solar and battery microgrids under an energy services agreement, live since March 2024: nearly 20% of the bakeries’ annual energy and roughly 1,700 CO2e tons a year eliminated (expected; as reported by GreenStruxure).

Invited: GreenStruxure (Schneider Electric), with Bimbo Bakeries USA · Read the published case

The problem: Yearly wind-driven outages stopped the feed plant and risked spoiling perishable feedstocks.

Published result: A solar and battery microgrid (2,068 solar modules, a 1,300 kWh battery and Gridscape’s microgrid controller), running since June 2023: measured annual reductions of about 908,000 kWh of grid electricity, about 22% less grid use, utility costs down approximately $200,000 a year, and no more process downtime from grid outages (as reported by Imperial Western Products in its California Energy Commission final report).

Invited: Gridscape Solutions, with Imperial Western Products · Read the published case

The problem: Rising grid prices kept pushing up the winery’s power bill.

Published result: Schneider Electric added microgrid controls and batteries to the winery’s repowered solar: nearly 80% of its 2024 energy needs came from solar, and it has saved more than $100,000 a year over the last few years, mainly from on-site solar; payback now around 7 years (as reported by Schneider Electric).

Invited: Schneider Electric, with Domaine Carneros · Read the published case

The problem: Grid outages kept cutting output on the plant’s medium-voltage equipment lines.

Published result: A 1.25 MW solar carport and 3.9 MWh battery under a SICAM A8000 controller that islands automatically: $450,000 a year in avoided outage costs and $100,000 in demand response savings (expected; as reported by Siemens).

Invited: Siemens · Read the published case

The problem: Two Ohio food plants wanted cleaner, steadier power without waiting on grid upgrades.

Published result: Bloom Energy will install about six megawatts of fuel cells at the two plants under a 15-year power purchase agreement, expected to supply about 70% to 75% of their electricity needs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by a projected 19% (projected; announced Apr 1, 2025, no start date given; as reported by Conagra Brands and Bloom Energy).

Invited: Bloom Energy, with Conagra Brands · Read the published case

The problem: The utility could not connect more power fast enough for the factory’s expansion.

Published result: An islanded Bloom fuel cell microgrid powers the site; Bloom is expanding its capacity by more than 150 percent, its largest islanded industrial installation (expansion expected early 2025; as reported by Bloom Energy).

Invited: Bloom Energy, with Quanta Computer · Read the published case

The problem: A 24x7 switchgear plant kept losing production time and materials when the grid went down.

Published result: A plant microgrid with 2 MW of rooftop solar, a 2 MW / four-hour flow battery, a flywheel and 2 MW of diesel generation, active since 2023: “$2 million in avoided losses” in the first year, $420,000 a year in electric bill reductions and $250,000 a year in grid services revenue, plus a $2.6 million ComEd rebate; G&W counts 13 outage events ridden through and over $1.8 million in lost production time and materials prevented (as reported by TDI Energy Solutions and G&W Electric).

Invited: TDI Energy Solutions and Intelligent Generation, with G&W Electric · Read the published case

The problem: A pharmaceutical plant on Puerto Rico’s fragile grid could not afford to lose power.

Published result: Martin Energy Group designed, built and delivered two 1,300 kW LNG-fuelled CHP units, a 300-ton absorption chiller, 4.4 MWh of batteries and a 1,750 kW diesel generator on ComAp controls: 100% uptime over the first 11 months; CO₂ projected to fall from about 12,920 to 3,519 tonnes a year (customer not named; as reported by ComAp).

Invited: Martin Energy Group and ComAp · Read the published case