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NJ TransitGrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations7
System facts15
Sources reviewed10
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

NJ TRANSITGRID is an umbrella resilience program, not one operational microgrid. Its two independent components were (1) the approximately 104 MW natural-gas Microgrid Central Facility/Traction Power System in Kearny and (2) Distributed Generation Solutions at seven stations, garages and a ferry terminal. NJ TRANSIT formally canceled the central facility on January 26, 2024 and redirected $503 million. The smaller seven-site program survived and still had design, construction-management, construction and commissioning contract actions before the board in July 2025.

Research status
Split outcome. The Microgrid Central Facility and associated traction-power project are canceled, after progressing through environmental review and early design but before construction of the generation plant. The Distributed Generation Solutions component remains active: NJ TRANSIT's July 2025 board minutes authorized expanded final-design, construction and commissioning work, but no reviewed source establishes that all seven installations had reached commercial operation by July 2026. The archived database's 'operational' classification is therefore wrong for the umbrella program.
Historical classification
Industrial
Reported capacity
104,000 kW
Coordinates
40.70766, -74.06349
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 NJ TransitGrid?

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

Organization

AECOM / Jacobs

Engineering/design participants. AECOM's July 2025 amendment covered construction assistance for the distributed-generation program; Jacobs participated in central-facility design. [9][5]

Organization

Burns Engineering Inc.

Construction-management contractor for Distributed Generation Solutions under the 2025 amendment. [9]

Organization

Dynamic US Inc.

Design-build contractor for the distributed-generation program; the July 2025 amendment covered final design, construction and commissioning. [9]

Organization

Federal Transit Administration

Federal resilience-funding and National Environmental Policy Act lead; explicitly defined the traction-power and distributed-generation projects as independent components. [3][7]

Organization

NJ TRANSIT

Program owner, transit-asset operator and contracting authority for both the canceled central facility and continuing distributed-generation work. [3][8][9]

Organization

NJ Transit Authority

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

Organization

U.S. Department of Energy / Sandia National Laboratories

Provided technical, conceptual-design and cybersecurity support. Sandia's reports document an evolving early design, not as-built equipment. [5][6]

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.

Canceled central facility
Approximately 104 MW of natural-gas generation was proposed in Kearny, New Jersey, with new electrical connections, substations and traction-power infrastructure for selected Northeast Corridor and Morris & Essex Lines service [4][8]
Early central-facility DER design
At roughly 20% design in early 2021, Sandia documented five natural-gas generator sets, about 600 kW of solar PV and flywheel energy storage. Final ratings/models were not fixed, and none of this should be reported as commissioned equipment after project cancellation. [5]
Distributed-generation sites
Seven facilities: Greenville, Wayne and Meadowlands bus garages; Newark Penn, Newark Broad Street and Secaucus Junction rail stations; and Port Imperial ferry terminal. The 2019 program announcement specifically included a Wayne solar canopy and described local fuel-cell, solar and CHP technologies more generally. [7][3]
Distributed-generation funding
$45.828 million FTA grant plus $15.276 million from New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund, approximately $61.105 million total in the 2019 announcement [7]
July 2025 distributed-generation contract ceilings
AECOM construction assistance up to $1.556 million; Burns construction management up to $5.286 million; Dynamic US final design/construction/commissioning up to $47.585 million, plus a 5% contingency. Contract ceilings are not plant capacity or completed-project cost. [9]
Central-facility cancellation reallocation
$503 million of federal resilience funding was redirected to other NJ TRANSIT projects after industry responses were judged financially infeasible and regional-grid improvements reduced the facility's relative need [8]

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

Central-facility generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Five natural-gas generator sets, 600 kW PV and flywheel storage appeared in early design documents. Manufacturer, model, unit ratings and final storage energy were not established as procured equipment before cancellation. [5][8]

02

Distributed generation

Model not publicly disclosed

FTA/NJ TRANSIT materials identify a mix of fuel cells, solar PV, combined heat and power and backup/local generation across seven sites. Reviewed public sources do not provide a final site-by-site as-built capacity, model, fuel, storage or commissioning list. [3][7][9]

03

Communications and control

Model not publicly disclosed

The program envisioned SCADA, dedicated fiber and secure coordination among a central plant, distributed sites and rail operations. These documents describe design objectives and cybersecurity recommendations, not a verified commissioned control network. [5][6]

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.

  • General

    NJ TRANSIT will purchase electric, non-revenue vehicles to maximize energy storage. [1]

  • Program boundary

    FTA defined the Traction Power System and Distributed Generation Solutions as independent projects in 2016. Canceling the central facility did not cancel the seven-site program, and evidence of continued distributed-generation contracting should not be used to revive the central plant. [3][8][9]

  • Central-facility environmental milestone

    The Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision were completed in April 2020. Environmental approval allowed the project to proceed but did not establish construction or operation. [4]

  • Cybersecurity design findings

    Sandia documented open questions at the 20% design stage over network boundaries, communications, firewalls/data-diode approaches, remote access and ownership of cybersecurity controls. Its follow-on guide proposed a defense-in-depth architecture; the recommendations are not evidence of final installation. [5][6]

  • Archived electric-vehicle note

    The archived page's statement about purchasing electric non-revenue vehicles to maximize energy storage appears to be one program measure, not a specification for the traction microgrid and not proof that vehicle batteries supplied grid services. [10]

  • Open evidence gaps

    No verified final capacity/equipment schedule, site-by-site completion dates, islanding tests, generation, fuel use, storage performance or avoided-outage data for the seven-site program was located through July 2026. [9][7]

Provenance

10 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 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
    Source

    njtransitresilienceprogram.com · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Cybersecurity Analysis of NJ TRANSITGRID

    Sandia National Laboratories / U.S. Department of Energy · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Cybersecurity Guide for NJ TRANSITGRID

    Sandia National Laboratories / U.S. Department of Energy · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
  9. [9]
  10. [10]
    Archived NJ TRANSITGRID record

    MicrogridProjects.com via Internet Archive · Archived source

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