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Santa Rita Jail Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts19
Sources reviewed14
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail microgrid is a 12 kV campus resilience system around a roughly 3 MW secure load. Its layered portfolio includes solar PV (1.2 MW in the 2012 as-built record; FuelCell Energy reported 2 MW by 2020), five small wind turbines totaling 11.2 kW, a current 1.4 MW fuel-cell CHP plant, 2 MW/4 MWh lithium-ion storage and about 2.4 MW of existing diesel backup. The present 1.4 MW fuel cell replaced the original 1 MW unit, so both ratings must not be counted simultaneously.

Research status
The expanded CERTS microgrid was completed in March 2012. FuelCell Energy reported successful islanded operation during California's 2020 public-safety power shutoffs, and a 2024 Alameda County document still describes Santa Rita's system as an operating county microgrid. The current 1.4 MW fuel cell is under a 20-year PPA announced in 2015. No 2025–2026 asset-level report discloses battery state of health, renewable output, availability or recent outage tests, so current operation is supported but detailed performance is not.
Historical classification
Prison
Reported capacity
5,700 kW
Coordinates
37.71822, -121.88828
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 Rita Jail Microgrid?

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

Organization

Alameda County General Services Agency

Owner/host and county energy-program manager. [5][6]

Organization

Chevron

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

Organization

Chevron Energy Solutions

Prime developer/integrator for the 2012 CERTS expansion. [11][9]

Organization

FuelCell Energy

Owner/supplier/operator of the replacement 1.4 MW SureSource fuel-cell CHP under a 20-year PPA. [13][12]

Organization

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / U.S. DOE

CERTS controls research, demonstration support and technical assessment. [7][8][9]

Organization

PowerLight / SunPower

Developer lineage associated with the original rooftop/carport PV installation. [5]

Organization

S&C

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

Organization

S&C Electric Company

Supplier/integrator of the PureWave storage-management system and fast switching/control package. [10]

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
1200 [1]
KW Wind
11 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
2400 [1]
KW Fuel Cell
1000 [1]
Storage
3/2 MW/MWH [1]
Battery
2 MW continuous/4 MWh lithium-ion, two hours at full output. Legacy 3 MW/2 MWh values likely mix peak power with energy and are not the LBNL/S&C as-built rating. [7][10][8]
Solar PV
1.2 MW in 2012 project records; FuelCell Energy reported 2 MW in its 2020 operating portfolio, suggesting later expansion or a broader accounting boundary. No source found reconciles the change. [7][12]
Fuel cell
Current 1.4 MW SureSource 1500 CHP at 12 kV, replacing the original 1 MW plant; recovered heat is used at the jail. [13][14]
Other generation
Five wind turbines totaling 11.2 kW and about 2.4 MW of pre-existing diesel backup. Manufacturer/model and current operability of the small wind fleet are not documented. [5][7]
Load and duration
Approximately 3 MW continuous secure load. Project reporting says storage plus DER can carry the jail for up to eight hours before diesel starts or utility service returns; this is not eight hours at the battery's 2 MW nameplate alone. [11][10]
Energy mix
Grid power in normal operation, PV, natural-gas fuel-cell CHP, battery and emergency diesel, with negligible wind contribution. A current annual generation split was not found. [12][7]

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

BESS/controls

S&C Electric — PureWave Storage Management System

2 MW/4 MWh lithium-ion storage, static disconnect and CERTS-compatible controls; cell maker/model not reliably disclosed. [10][7]

02

Fuel-cell CHP

FuelCell Energy — SureSource 1500

1.4 MW replacement plant with Cain Industries heat recovery, connected at 12 kV. [14][13]

03

Solar and wind

Model not publicly disclosed

Rooftop/carport PV plus five small wind turbines; detailed current bill of materials is unavailable. [5][7]

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.

  • Generation

    Fuel Cell runs on natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen [1]

  • Control architecture

    The battery inverter acts as the island voltage/frequency reference using CERTS droop control, coordinated through a fast static switch and distributed generator controls for automatic separation/resynchronization. [8][10]

  • Demonstrated resilience

    FuelCell Energy says the microgrid operated through 2020 PSPS outages. The source provides no event-by-event load, duration or fuel-use dataset, so it is operational evidence rather than an audited reliability study. [12]

  • Chemistry conflict

    DOE's project page calls the storage sodium-sulfur, while detailed LBNL, OSTI and S&C as-built records call it lithium-ion. The latter consensus is used here and the DOE discrepancy preserved. [9][7][10]

  • Economics

    S&C projected about US$100,000 in annual savings from peak management and grid services; no current audited realized-savings series was located. [10]

Provenance

14 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 2020-11-30

  2. [2]
    www.smartgrid.gov

    smartgrid.gov · Archived source · captured 2020-11-30

  3. [3]
    The World’s Greenest Prison

    theatlantic.com · Archived source · captured 2020-11-30

  4. [4]
    Santa Rita Microgrid Overview

    acgov.org · Archived source · captured 2020-11-30

  5. [5]
    Santa Rita Jail Smart Grid Project

    Alameda County · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    A Green Prison: Santa Rita Jail campus microgrid

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · Primary source

  8. [8]
    CERTS Microgrid Demonstration with Large-Scale Energy Storage

    U.S. Department of Energy OSTI · Primary source

  9. [9]
  10. [10]
    S&C energy storage system supports microgrid at California jail

    S&C Electric via pv magazine · Primary source

  11. [11]
    First-of-its-kind smart grid at Santa Rita Jail completed

    Alameda County and Chevron Energy Solutions · Primary source

  12. [12]
  13. [13]
  14. [14]
    Santa Rita Jail fuel cell project

    OHR Energy · Primary source

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