Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / Los Alamos Microgrid

North America / Commercial & demonstration

Los Alamos Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations14
System facts36
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Los Alamos's microgrid was the NEDO Japan–U.S. Collaborative Smart Grid Demonstration on Los Alamos County's municipal distribution system, not an internal Los Alamos National Laboratory microgrid. The project paired a nominal 1 MW landfill PV plant with 1.8 MW/8.3 MWh of hybrid storage—NGK's 1 MW/6 MWh sodium-sulfur battery and Hitachi's 0.8 MW/2.3 MWh lead-acid system—under Toshiba's μEMS. Full demonstration operation began in September 2012 and the bilateral program concluded in 2014–2015.

Research status
Historical demonstration, now partially retired. County procurement documents issued in October 2024 state that the 1 MW/6 MWh sodium-sulfur battery had been unmaintained, unheated, and uncharged for at least 36 months and was at end of useful life. The County approved a roughly US$945,240 removal contract in December 2024 with a May 31, 2025 target; public completion evidence was not located. The present status of the separate lead-acid bank and full original μEMS configuration is unclear, so the 2012 hybrid system should not be labeled currently intact or fully operational.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
5,000 kW
Coordinates
35.88004, -106.30311
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 Los Alamos Microgrid?

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

Organization

Hitachi

Supplier of the 0.8 MW/2.3 MWh lead-acid storage system and associated power-conversion technology [2][3]

Organization

Itochu

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

Organization

Kyocera

PV and smart-house technology participant, including HEMS coordination [2]

Organization

Landis+Gyr

Smart-metering, head-end, and meter-data-management technology participant [2]

Organization

Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities

Host utility, distribution-system owner, demonstration operator counterpart, and owner of the retired sodium-sulfur battery [2][4][5]

Organization

Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories

Research and evaluation partners; LANL was not the owner of this municipal-distribution microgrid [2]

Organization

NEC

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

Organization

NEDO

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

Organization

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

Japanese commissioning agency, funder, and program manager for the bilateral smart-grid demonstration [2][3]

Organization

NGK

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

Organization

NGK Insulators

Supplier of the 1 MW/6 MWh sodium-sulfur battery [2][5]

Organization

Renewance

Contractor selected for end-of-life removal and disposal/recycling of the sodium-sulfur system [5][6]

Organization

State of New Mexico

United States government partner in the Japan–U.S. demonstration [2][3]

Organization

Toshiba

Japanese project coordinator and supplier of the μEMS supervisory energy-management system [2]

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.

KW Solar
1000 [1]
Storage
1.8 MW [1]
Photovoltaic plant
Nominal 1 MW; project documentation also identifies approximately 910 kW installed, reflecting rounded project nameplate versus as-built output/rating [2][3]
PV site
Approximately 4,000 modules on about 10 acres of a former landfill [3]
Sodium-sulfur battery
1 MW / 6 MWh [2][5]
Lead-acid battery
0.8 MW / 2.3 MWh [2][3]
Combined storage
1.8 MW / 8.3 MWh across the two battery technologies [2]
Demonstration feeder
One residential feeder serving approximately 1,600 homes; around 900 households volunteered for demand-response trials [2]
PV smoothing result
Demonstration load factor improved from 79.7% to 90.2% on a sunny day and from 83.5% to 95.1% on a cloudy day [2]
Demand-response result
Best reported summer critical-peak-pricing trial reduced peak demand by 10.49% among participating customers [2]
Smart house
Approximately 3.4–3.44 kW of PV and 24 kWh of lithium-ion storage, plus HEMS-managed appliances and heat-pump water heating [2]
NAS removal contract
Approximately US$945,240 approved in December 2024, with contingency handled separately and a target completion date of May 31, 2025 [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

Sodium-sulfur battery

NGK Insulators

1 MW/6 MWh long-duration bank used for scheduled energy shifting and sustained PV balancing; later declared end-of-life and contracted for removal [2][5][6]

02

Lead-acid battery

Hitachi

0.8 MW/2.3 MWh high-response bank used for short-timescale PV fluctuation control; current condition is not documented [2][3]

03

Microgrid energy management

Toshiba — μEMS

Forecasting, resource scheduling, hybrid-battery optimization, supply-demand balancing, and coordination with higher-level utility systems [2]

04

Photovoltaics

Kyocera

Coordination and module technology for the nominal 1 MW landfill array; exact module model is not given in the cited program summary [2][3]

05

Advanced metering

Landis+Gyr

Smart meters, head-end system, and meter-data-management components supporting demand-response trials [2]

06

Distribution switchgear

S&C Electric — Vista

Automated switchgear used in the County distribution architecture [4]

07

Protection relays

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories — SEL-451

Bidirectional protection and automation relays associated with microgrid switching [4]

08

Smart-house equipment

Model not publicly disclosed

Kyocera/Sharp/NEC collaborative package with 3.4–3.44 kW PV, 24 kWh lithium-ion battery, HEMS, controllable appliances, and a heat-pump water heater [2]

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

    Micro EMS [1]

  • Management

    PV power generation forecasting by Itochu Techno-Solutions [1]

  • Management

    ・ Micro EMS, demand and PV [1]

  • Storage

    ・ NAS battery [1]

  • Storage

    LA Battery [1]

  • Storage

    ・ Lead-acid storage battery [1]

  • Storage

    ・ Large-scale PCS for PV [1]

  • Generation

    ・ Coordination of PV installation [1]

  • Hybrid-storage control

    The μEMS assigned slower, sustained deviations to the 6 MWh sodium-sulfur bank and faster PV fluctuations to the 0.8 MW lead-acid system, while optimizing charge state and day-ahead dispatch. [2]

  • Demonstration period

    Construction and staged testing began under the FY2009–2014 bilateral program; full operation was announced in September 2012 and the demonstration concluded around 2014–2015. [2][3]

  • Islanding limitation

    County reliability documentation says island operation required a complete feeder shutdown and reconfiguration before and after the islanded period, and that the feature had never been tested at the time of that plan. It should not be described as proven seamless transfer. [4]

  • Renewable-share interpretation

    NEDO tested conditions in which PV supplied up to about 75% of energy at the demonstration site. This was a test condition, not a verified annual share for Los Alamos County's entire electric system. [2]

  • End-of-life finding

    The 2024 County RFP reports that the NAS cells had been unmaintained, unheated, and uncharged or self-discharged for at least 36 months, making the bank unavailable since at least roughly 2021. [5]

  • Retirement update

    County Council approved Renewance's removal contract in December 2024 with a May 2025 target. A public completion notice was not found, so removal should be described as contracted rather than definitively completed. [6]

  • Ownership clarification

    The host was Los Alamos County's municipal utility. LANL and Sandia participated in research, but the project is not evidence of a LANL-campus microgrid. [2][4]

  • Current-system boundary

    Recent large solar-storage developments in the region are separate projects. They must not be treated as upgrades that keep this original 1 MW NEDO demonstration operational. [5]

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 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Japan-U.S. Collaborative Smart Grid Demonstration Project in New Mexico

    New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization · Primary source

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Electric Distribution Reliability Plan

    Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities · Primary source

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    Los Alamos Microgrid (archived legacy record)

    Microgrid Projects / Internet Archive · Archived source

Continue exploring

Related projects in North America