Mesa del Sol Microgrid

The Mesa del Sol mixed commercial-residential development in Albuquerque, New Mexico is the site of a fully functioning microgrid. The project has been created by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), along with the State of New Mexico, Mesa del Sol, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratory, and a number of Japanese companies including Shimizu, Toshiba, Tokyo Gas, Mitsubishi, Fuji Electric, Furukawa Battery, and others.

The system comprises a 50 kW parking lot canopy solar PV system, and a microgrid enclosure containing an 80 kW fuel cell, a 240 kW natural gas-powered generator, a lead-acid battery bank, hot and cold thermal storage, and an adsorption chiller. Under NEDO’s agreement, the microgrid will be turned over to the University of New Mexico (UNM) at the end of April 2014. UNM’s Interdisciplinary Film & Digital Media Program has offices and work space in the Aperture Center in the Mesa del Sol development, which also contains Albuquerque Studios.