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North America / Campus & research

Santa Fe Community College Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts18
Sources reviewed11
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) has two nested, date-separated projects. A small educational greenhouse nanogrid was commissioned in 2021 with 12–12.5 kW of tracking PV and a 100 kW/85 kWh lithium battery. The full campus microgrid, launched June 2, 2026 after more than a decade of planning, integrates the college's existing 1.5 MW solar array, a 1 MW/770 kWh campus battery, a 1 MW natural-gas generator, controls and the earlier educational system. Older feasibility descriptions and the greenhouse battery's 170 kWh expansion ceiling should not be mistaken for final campus as-built ratings.

Research status
The greenhouse educational microgrid was commissioned in July 2021. SFCC formally celebrated launch of the campus-wide microgrid on June 2, 2026 after receiving utility permission to operate. A 2026 procurement seeks Siemens microgrid-control support plus remote monitoring and operations/maintenance, consistent with a newly operational system entering its service phase. No post-launch islanding event, uptime, fuel use, battery throughput or realized savings report was available by July 20, 2026.
Historical classification
Building
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
35.60543, -105.99853
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 Santa Fe Community College Microgrid?

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

Organization

Burns Engineering

Engineering consultant for the campus electrical/microgrid design and published source for final major-asset ratings. [5]

Organization

Microgrid Systems Laboratory

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

Organization

Microgrid Systems Laboratory (MSL)

Developer/integrator for the greenhouse educational microgrid and early campus planning partner. [6][4]

Organization

National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories

Federal technical and research partners supporting design, testing and educational use. [4][7]

Organization

NREL

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

Organization

Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)

Interconnecting utility that issued permission to operate before the 2026 launch. [9]

Organization

Santa Fe Community College

Campus owner, host, educational operator and project sponsor. [4][10]

Organization

Siemens

Lead microgrid/control partner for the campus project; SFCC's 2026 procurement names Siemens microgrid control support. [4][8][11]

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
1500 [1]
Storage
NA [1]
Campus solar PV
1.5 MW from 4,620 fixed SunPower 327 W modules. SFCC originally projected the array would supply about 43% of campus electricity and save roughly US$200,000 annually; no recent measured share or savings audit was found. [10][5]
Campus battery
1 MW/770 kWh, equivalent to about 0.77 hour at full rated output. Battery maker, cell chemistry and model are not disclosed in the current public project pages. [5]
Campus firm generation
1 MW natural-gas generator. Public sources do not identify the engine manufacturer/model, on-site fuel-storage arrangement or emissions/runtime limits. [5][8]
Educational greenhouse nanogrid
Approximately 12–12.5 kW of tracking PV and a 100 kW/85 kWh NEC lithium-ion battery serving an 11,000–12,000-square-foot greenhouse/classroom facility. The battery could be expanded to 170 kWh, but 170 kWh was not the commissioned capacity. [6][7]
Energy mix
Normally grid electricity plus campus solar, with battery shifting/support and natural gas for firm islanded operation. The launch material does not quantify current annual solar, gas or grid shares. [4][5]
Duration language
Burns states that the PV, battery and gas generator can enable indefinite island operation. That is an engineering capability claim contingent on natural-gas availability and operating conditions, not a published endurance test. [5]

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

Campus solar PV

SunPower

4,620 fixed 327 W modules, approximately 1.5 MW total, plus a separate 36-panel/11.8–12.5 kW educational tracking array. [10][6]

02

Campus battery energy storage

Model not publicly disclosed

1 MW/770 kWh BESS; public project pages reviewed do not disclose manufacturer, model or chemistry. [5]

03

Educational battery

NEC Energy Solutions

100 kW/85 kWh lithium-ion BESS, designed with an expansion path to 170 kWh. [6][7]

04

Microgrid control

Siemens

Campus controller, monitoring and related control support. Earlier planning materials name Siemens Spectrum Power MGMS, but current procurement does not establish that every 2026 control component retained the exact early-design product/version. [11][8]

05

Backup generation

Model not publicly disclosed

1 MW natural-gas generator; manufacturer and model not publicly identified. [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.

  • General

    The nanogrid, by optimizing energy generation, storage, and consumption, will therefore be an excellent complement. [1]

  • Operating modes

    The campus system is designed to disconnect from the utility and sustain college loads using PV, storage and the gas generator, then resynchronize. The smaller greenhouse system initially used manual islanding/resynchronization and functions as a hands-on teaching platform. [6][5]

  • Controls evolution

    The greenhouse installation provided a real-world development/test bed while the broader campus design matured. It is now described as integrated with the campus system, but its 100 kW inverter rating should not be added to the 1 MW campus battery as though both were one homogeneous storage unit. [4][6]

  • Interconnection milestone

    A New Mexico capital-outlay report states PNM permission to operate had been received before the June 2026 launch, distinguishing actual operation from the many earlier feasibility and funding announcements. [9][4]

  • Current-data gap

    Because campus launch occurred only weeks before the research cutoff, there is no meaningful public operating history yet. Current status is commissioned/early operations, not proven long-duration resilience performance. [4][8]

Provenance

11 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]
    member

    microgridsystemslab.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  3. [3]
    Read more from Microgrid Systems Lab

    microgridsystemslab.com · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Santa Fe Community College campus microgrid

    Burns Engineering · Primary source

  6. [6]
    SFCC educational microgrid commissioned

    Microgrid Systems Laboratory · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Santa Fe Community College microgrid project report

    Sandia National Laboratories · Primary source

  8. [8]
    SFCC RFP P09-26: Siemens Microgrid Control support and O&M

    Santa Fe Community College procurement listing · Primary source

  9. [9]
    New Mexico Capital Outlay Quarterly Report, FY26 Q3

    New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee · Primary source

  10. [10]
    SFCC solar array

    Santa Fe Community College · Primary source

  11. [11]
    EDA grant awarded to SFCC microgrid partnership

    Santa Fe Innovates · Primary source

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