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Bosch DC Microgrid at California Honda Facility

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations12
System facts17
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

California Energy Commission grant EPC-14-053 funded Bosch's 380 V direct-current building microgrid demonstration at an American Honda Motor Co. warehouse in Chino, California. The final installation coupled 286 kW of rooftop solar, a 180 kW/540 kWh lithium-ion battery, Bosch energy management, DC lighting, fan drives, and forklift charging on a common DC bus. CEC's 2024 retrospective says the system was removed after the grant because Bosch discontinued the commercial offering.

Research status
Demonstration completed in 2019 and subsequently uninstalled; CEC reported in 2024 that Bosch discontinued the DC Building Microgrid Platform offering.
Historical classification
Building
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
38.57525, -121.26017
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Bosch DC Microgrid at California Honda Facility?

12 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

American Honda Motor Co.

Host and customer at the Chino parts-distribution warehouse [3][6]

Organization

Bosch

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

California Energy Commission

EPIC funder and project administrator under agreement EPC-14-053 [4][5]

Organization

CEC

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Imergy

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Imergy Power Systems

Original supply-chain project partner; the planned flow-battery path was disrupted when the vendor went out of business [3][6]

Organization

Johnson Controls

Supplier of the lithium-ion energy-storage container used in the completed demonstration [3]

Organization

Maxwell Labs

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Maxwell Technologies

Supply-chain project partner [5][6]

Organization

Navigant Consulting

Design and independent performance-validation partner named at award [7]

Organization

Robert Bosch LLC

CEC grantee, system integrator, and supplier of the DC microgrid energy-management system [4][3]

Organization

UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center

Design, training, and performance partner for the DC lighting and building-load demonstration [6][7]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

Storage
NA [1]
Rooftop photovoltaic capacity
286 kW DC [3]
Battery rating
180 kW / 540 kWh lithium-ion (3-hour duration) [3]
DC distribution voltage
380 V DC common bus [3]
Energy mix
On-site solar plus lithium-ion storage and utility-grid supply; no fuel-fired generator was part of the final DC microgrid [3][5]
CEC award and match
$2,817,566 EPIC award; $2,389,216 spent; $1,797,544 match funding [4][5]
CEC project term
June 30, 2015 to March 29, 2019; an older PNNL tracker listed March 29, 2018 as the planned end [4][6]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Microgrid controls

Robert Bosch LLC

DC microgrid energy-management system coordinating sources, storage, and DC loads [3]

02

Battery energy storage

Johnson Controls

Containerized 180 kW/540 kWh lithium-ion system connected to the DC bus [3]

03

DC loads

Model not publicly disclosed

High-bay LED lighting, industrial-fan variable-frequency drives, and forklift charging operated on the DC architecture [3][5]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Management

    The buildings solar PV arrays, DC ventalation system, DC lighting, and DC energy storage will form a microgrid on a 380-volt DC bus. [1]

  • Architecture

    The building-scale system avoided repeated DC-to-AC-to-DC conversions by linking rooftop PV, battery storage, and compatible building loads on a 380 V DC bus while retaining utility service. [3]

  • Measured performance

    CEC reported 2-6% DC-load efficiency improvement, 7-10% greater solar utilization, and an 8% storage-efficiency improvement; the 2019 EPIC summary reported 3-5% overall efficiency improvement for lighting, ventilation, and forklift charging. [3][5]

  • Resilience demonstration

    The system supported designated critical loads during outage testing and avoided use of the site's diesel backup generator. [5]

  • Economics and maintenance

    CEC estimated roughly 30% lower total cost of ownership at commercial scale; the host facility manager estimated 45-50% lower maintenance cost, but CEC cautioned that project delays left limited baseline and operating data. [3]

  • Outcome

    Flow-battery supplier failure, interconnection delays, a separately managed rooftop-solar project, and rate changes delayed the work. After the grant, Bosch discontinued the product offering and the demonstration equipment was uninstalled, so the project did not proceed to a commercial launch. [3]

  • Location correction

    Current CEC and PNNL project records place the host warehouse in Chino, California, not Rancho Cordova. [4][6]

Provenance

7 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-02-28

  2. [2]
    Press Release

    businesswire.com · Archived source · captured 2021-02-28

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Renewable-Based Direct Current Building-Scale Microgrid

    California Energy Commission · Primary source

  5. [5]
    2019 EPIC Annual Report, Appendix C: Project Summaries

    California Energy Commission · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Renewable-Based Direct Current Building-Scale Microgrid

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Bosch Receives $2.8 Million CEC Grant to Demonstrate DC Microgrid Technology

    Robert Bosch LLC and UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center · Primary source

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