A rendering of the Colorado multi-stakeholder microgrid project at Denver’s Peña Station NEXT
At Peña Station NEXT—a 382-acre transit-oriented development in Denver, Colorado—stakeholders Panasonic, Xcel Energy, Denver International Airport, Younicos, and LC Fulenwider, Inc. have partnered on an ambitious solar+storage microgrid. The project used a public-private partnership approach that resulted in a multi-stakeholder “portfolio microgrid.” Now, Panasonic, Xcel Energy, and Younicos have released a white paper, A Portfolio Microgrid in Denver, Colorado: How a multi-use battery energy storage system provides grid and customer services through a public-private partnership.
The report discusses the “portfolio” microgrid project underway at Denver’s smart and sustainable transit-oriented development, Peña Station NEXT. This microgrid strengthens grid resilience through backup power and grid-support services such as peak shaving and frequency regulation, and benefits diverse stakeholders through a multi-use, lithium-ion energy storage battery system.
Colorado multi-stakeholder microgrid project brings together wide variety of public-private partners
Stakeholders include Xcel Energy, a Colorado utility, Panasonic, which is the anchor corporate tenant at Peña and smart and sustainable technologies lead for Peña Station NEXT, Younicos, a leader in MW-scale battery energy storage and storage software applications, the City and County of Denver (Denver), and Denver International Airport (DEN). Additional partners include real estate developer L.C. Fulenwider, Xcel Energy’s retail customers in Colorado, and Denver’s residents.
The Peña Station NEXT microgrid project comprises five core elements:1. A 1.6 MWdc carport solar PV installation located over the Denver International Airport parking lot; 2. A 259 kWdc rooftop solar PV array installed atop Panasonic’s corporate office building; 3. A 1 MW/ 2MWh lithium ion battery system, including inverter and controls; 4. Panasonic’s Denver operations hub building, which will serve as the initial anchor load for the microgrid; and 5. A switching and control systems to operate the battery energy storage system. More information about the microgrid portfolio project is available in the white paper.