You may have seen some construction just north of the Nederland Community Center over the past few months – here’s what it is: Nederland won a competition with 20 other communities for Xcel to build one of seven new community microgrids as part of a $24 million investment in “community resilience” that Xcel got approval for in May 2020. “Resilience” means that the power stays on when the grid goes down.

What is a microgrid, you may ask? A microgrid is a hyper-local energy grid with clearly defined electrical boundaries (our Community Center, in this case) that acts as a single controllable system, while tied into the electrical grid we all use. It can connect and disconnect from the main grid in order to enable it to operate in grid-connected mode or in “island mode.”

Microgrids typically include a variety of energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage, and diesel generators. Ours uses battery storage.

When the “big grid” goes down, the microgrid continues to provide local power, backing up critical town infrastructure such as Ned’s Community Center. Our microgrid can operate completely independently of our main electrical grid when it needs to.

Nederland’s new Xcel project is one of the nation’s first community microgrids – there are only about 400 community microgrids operating or in development in the United States, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The trend is accelerating, as communities look for ways to improve their energy resilience, reduce their reliance on centralized grids, and cut their carbon emissions.

Community microgrids are typically located in areas that are vulnerable to power outages, such as coastal communities, rural areas, and areas with extreme weather events. They provide backup power to critical facilities such as hospitals, schools, and first responder stations.

Community microgrids provide a number of benefits:

• Increased energy resilience: Microgrids can help communities to outlast power outages caused by extreme weather events, fires, and other disruptions.

• Reduced carbon emissions: Microgrids help communities like Nederland to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

• Improved energy affordability: Microgrids like ours can help communities save money on their energy bills by generating our own electricity and reducing our reliance on Xcel’s grid.

Most community microgrids are in extremely rural and island communities.

• The Kodiak Island microgrid in Alaska, powered by wind and energy storage, provides power to the entire island for up to 30 days in the event of a grid outage.

• The Blue Lake Rancheria microgrid in California is powered by solar and energy storage and serves as an American Red Cross emergency evacuation site (as Nederland’s Community Center serves for our region).

• The Brooklyn Microgrid in New York is powered by solar, battery storage, and combined heat & power and supports a mix of residential and critical commercial and industrial infrastructure.

Community microgrids are still a relatively new concept, but they will play a major role in the future of the US energy system. By providing increased energy resilience, reducing carbon emissions, and improving energy affordability, community microgrids can help communities to build a more sustainable and equitable energy future – and Nederland has the first one in our region.

The federal government is increasingly supportive of community microgrids. The Department of Energy recently announced a $15 million funding opportunity for microgridrelated technologies in underserved and Indigenous communities as part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to deliver 40% of the overall benefits from federal climate investment to disadvantaged communities.

Unique among electric utilities, Xcel followed suit with a $24 million investment that serves Nederland as well as Denver International Airport, the Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, and four other communities. In 2018, then-Governor Hickenlooper signed the Colorado Resiliency Initiative, enabling our utilities to finance microgrids.

Xcel invested $3.5 million in our project, which includes a 6MW/15 MWh Fluence battery, supplementing (or replacing) a generator already serving the Community Center. It also includes a Siemens microgrid controller to direct power, and when necessary, cut the microgrid off from the main Xcel power grid.

The Nederland Community Microgrid is expected to be operational in early 2024. It will be the first community microgrid in Colorado to be owned and operated by a utility. Ours is a significant milestone in the development of microgrids in Colorado, and it serves as a model for other utilities across the nation to develop microgrids in order to improve the resilience and reliability of local power delivery.

This is a big win.