September 30, 2025
Here are the Microgrid nominees for the 2025 Solar builder Project of the Year Awards.
The form is at the bottom of the page. From now on until Friday, October 10 at midnight (et) you can vote once a day. (For your information: our voting widget shall Let you vote more than once a day, but we filter it in the back-end. Sorry, ballot papers.) Winners will be announced and prominently present in the Q4 number by Solar builder Magazine and online in December.
Thanks CPS America For sponsoring the 2025 Microgrid project of the year.
Make sure you vote in every category!
Camp Elena Ecofriendly Camp
Texas | 72 kW PV + 153.6 kWh Bess
Solar Power Integrator developed and built two independent hybrid microgrids for Camp Elena, in Terlingua, Texas, near Big Bend National Park. Each system combines a 36.08 kW of solar array with 153 kWh battery energy storage and a generator of 15 kW generator, which supplies 24/7 electricity for an off-grid hospitality site. The technical earnings of the project include the architecture, which prioritizing Solar + Storage for daily activities, where the generator is reserved for long -term cloudy periods, exceptional peaks. Batteries offer spanomy and stabilize tension/frequency under rapidly changing taxes; Control Logic implements Solar-First Dispatch, Peak-Shaving and Automatic Generator starts based on state-of-charge and loading thresholds. Each Microgrid is measured and network network remotely.
The remote site of the site required careful logistics: consolidated deliveries, contingency -reserve parts and equipment organized to minimize backhauls. Rocky Terrain dictated developed foundations-rock drilling/anchors where the rock was shallow and has selected trench routes to protect the cabling while retaining code-demanding funeral depth. Thermal extremes and wind exposure informed racking selection, conductor dimensions, ventilation statement and lightning/earth design. Considerations of wildlife and guest safety -shaped equipment housings. Because the guest’s question was linked to an ECO tent concept that is still evolving, the taxes are treated as a distribution with seasonal and occupancy variability instead of fixed points.
Developer/EPC/Installer: Solar -Energy -Integrator | Modules: Jinko | Inverters: Sol | Storage: Homegrid with Power Cube | Assembly/Rekken: Iron
Marshall Commercial Property
Marshall, Michigan | 57.2 KWDC PV + 150 kWh storage
This project takes on the challenge of taking on a head office and a warehouse completely off-grid. With a 400 A-service and two facilities to be delivered, the site demanded an energy system that offers exceptional storage capacity, intelligent loading control and seamless integration with external solar technologies. The system used consists of two FranklinWH-agate one agate distributes the power to the warehouse with 4 15-kw batteries, while the other agate feeds the head office with 6 15-kw batteries. The 150 kWh of total capacity offers energy freedom and peace of mind, especially during the cold winters of Michigan when the solar production can be intermittent. To match the substantial storage capacity with solar generation, the site uses mixed PV systems with 52 and phase IQ8+ microinverters on one side and 13 hymiles quad micro -formers on the other side. The Apbox acted as the interface between the solar arrays and the FranklinWH system, offered large PV inputs, with the possibility of integrating Zonne -Arrays far away from the main control units. The integration with two span-slimme panels makes dynamic loading management possible, so that the operator can feed the entire property or give priority to critical circuits and non-essential taxes if necessary. The result is a real estate on a commercial scale that works fully off-grid while meets advanced energy needs.
Developer/EPC/Installer: Central American solar energy | Modules: JA SOLAR | Inverters: Criticize And Hemiles | Storage: Sinclair designs and Engineering Skyrack 2.0 | Assembly/Rekken: FranklinWh | Controller: FranklinWH Agate
Orcas Center Microgrid
EastSound, Washington | 100 kW PV + 1.376 kWh Bess
The Orcas Center, located in Eastsound on Orcas Island, Washington, serves as a critical community shub that offers essential cultural and community services. The growing need for resilient, renewable energy solutions, Cascadia -renewable energy sources, initiated an extensive solar plus storage microgrid project, conducting initial feasibility studies, securing critical subsidy and then managing the project implementation. Cascadia Renewable energy sources served as a project -originator and technical management.
This Microgrid integrates Onsite Zonne -PV, battery energy storage and a diesel generator. A SEL -grid insulation elbeces activates a motorized breaker to the island and again connects the Microgrid to the local schedule. The generator offers additional power to back up back -up loads and to charge the battery in a low charge state, while solar and grid power is not available. The team carried out detailed hand calculations and developed synthetic tax analyzes to determine critical taxes, system needs and initial size for the battery energy storage system (BESS) and PV -Arrays.
Cascadia renewable energy sources identified the need for an optimized, resilient system to maintain critical functions due to extensive grid failure, so that the system requirements are ultimately defined around peak question and resilience scenarios. Mayfield renewable energy sources provided full permit and construction sets for this new PV + Bess system that was integrated with a generator of 150 kW and supported relay coordination to insulate the Microgrid and charge the Bess with the generator in a low condition of load. Obstacles include the main breaker of the facility that required shrinking contraction to make a load -silent connection possible, and the project had to adhere to strict requirements for placing equipment per local and national fire brigade codes.
Developer: Cascadia Renewables | EPC/Installer: Sulis Energy And Mills Electric | Modules: Helie | Inverters: Dissolved | Storage: ELM MG2 And Kore Power Mark 1 | Assembly/Rekken: Iron | Controller: Elm Fieldsight
Pendleton Clean Energy Resilience Project
Pendleton, Oregon | 240 kW PV + 1.376 kWh Bess
Pendleton, Oregon’s waste water treatment and resource recovery facility (WWTRRF) has become one of the most ambitious examples of municipal sustainability in the Pacific Northwest. Although many factories install solar or efficiency – upgrades, Pendleton has continued – building a clean energy hub that integrates solar energy, biogas microt turbines, advanced lighting infrastructure and, soon, battery storage.
Phase 1 replaced outdated lighting with LEDs, which reduces the energy consumption of street lamps by more than 50% and saved nearly 500,000 kWh annually. In May 2025, the city unveiled a 240 kW of sunny tails in the waste water facility – the first of its kind in the region. This system is expected to produce 325,000 kWh annually, which compensates for 30% of the energy demand of the facility, while Pendleton drives to its net noises. The canopy tint the chlorine contact chamber, improves treatment performance, reducing the effluent temperatures and protecting the water life in the receiving current. The innovative design of the project shows how renewable energy can fulfill multiple functions: reducing dependence on the grid, protecting ecosystems and lowering municipal utility costs.
Building on this success, Pendleton now designs a 500 kW / 1.376 kWh Bess to complete the site-wide Microgrid. The Bess will store surplus energy from the PV and biogas microt turbines and offers backup power during malfunctions, while maximizing the renewable generation. Together, the solar canopy and bess will create a functional microgrid that reinforces the resilience and distinguishes pendleton as a regional leader in sustainable infrastructure.
Developer: Pendleton, Oregon | EPC: Ameresco | Installer: Sunthurst | Modules: N/A | Inverters: N / A | Storage: N/A | Assembly/Rekken: N / A
Tags: Commercial and Industrial, Community solar, Microgrid, Poy, Project of the Year, the project of the Year Awards, Residential solar energy, Nuts scale scale
