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UCSD Microgrid

Organizations, planners, suppliers, equipment, controls, and reported system specifications—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations18
System facts22
Sources reviewed4
Last researched2026-07-19

UC San Diego operates a campus microgrid and the DERConnect grid research testbed. Current university documentation identifies the controls, inverter models, storage chemistries, and switchgear ratings used in the testbed.

Research status
Operational campus microgrid and active DER research testbed
Historical classification
University
Reported capacity
43,000 kW
Coordinates
32.88006, -117.23401
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 UCSD Microgrid?

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

Organization

AES

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

Organization

BMW

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

Organization

BYD

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

Organization

Dynapower

Bidirectional inverter supplier [3]

Organization

Eagle Eye Power Solutions

Programmable load-bank supplier [3]

Organization

Eos

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

Organization

Great Power

Battery supplier [3]

Organization

KORE Power

Battery supplier [3]

Organization

Kronus Engineering

Battery-rack and ultracapacitor integration supplier [3]

Organization

Lightsail

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

Organization

Maxwell Labs

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

Organization

MCV

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

Organization

NRG

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

Organization

Oztek

Inverter supplier [3]

Organization

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL)

Microgrid controller and protection supplier [3]

Organization

Skeleton Technologies

Ultracapacitor supplier [3]

Organization

UCSD

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

Organization

University of California San Diego

Owner, operator, and research lead [3][4]

System evidence

Reported capacity and specifications

Values can describe different project phases or components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
3000 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
27000 [1]
KW Fuel Cell
2800 KW [1]
Storage
3/5 MW/MWH [1]
Campus cogeneration
30 MW natural-gas cogeneration [4]
Campus peak load
Approximately 55 MW [4]
DERConnect laboratory storage
Five lithium-ion batteries totaling 0.5 MW / 1 MWh, plus ultracapacitor [3]

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 controller

SEL — PowerMAX

Supports islanding, black start, resynchronization, remote switching, and phasor/waveform collection. [3]

02

Battery energy storage #2

KORE Power — Dynapower MPS-125 inverter

125 kW / 221 kWh at 480 VAC; NMC/graphite lithium-ion chemistry; grid-forming and black-start capable. [3]

03

Battery energy storage #3

Great Power — Dynapower MPS-125 EHV inverter

125 kW / 376 kWh at 480 VAC; lithium iron phosphate chemistry. [3]

04

Battery energy storage #4 and #5

Kronus Engineering — Oztek inverters

Two independent 40 kW / 72.5 kWh, 480 VAC NMC/graphite racks sharing controls and an enclosure. [3]

05

Ultracapacitor

Kronus Engineering / Skeleton Technologies — Dynapower MPS-125 EHV inverter

125 kW / 28 kWh at 480 VAC with a 60-second charge/discharge rating. [3]

06

Programmable RLC load bank

Eagle Eye Power Solutions

500 kVA apparent power; 400 kW resistive and 300 kvar each inductive/capacitive maximum. [3]

07

Switchgear

Model not publicly disclosed

480 V and 208 V buses rated 1,200 A; the 208 V bus connects through a 500 kVA transformer. [3]

Recovered detail

Additional technical notes

Concise system facts recovered from the historical project record. Treat these as historical unless a newer primary source confirms them.

  • Storage

    30 KW Panasonic Project, one of first community storage projects in country [1]

  • Storage

    35 KWH Energy Storage project with MCV Energy [1]

  • Storage

    100KW/300KWH Zinc/Bromine battery research [1]

  • Storage

    Second Life EV Storage Research [1]

  • Storage

    ARPAe CHARGES Laboratory and Microgrid Demonstration of Advanced Energy Storage Batteries ($ 3.3 M, 4 yr., ARPA-E) [1]

  • Storage

    2.5 MW, 5 Mwh, Advanced Energy Storage, Lithium-ion from BYD (SGIP-CPUC) [1]

  • Storage

    28 kW, Maxwell Labs, Ultra Capacitors, Smoothing of PV intermittency, coupled with solar forecasting (CEC) [1]

  • Storage

    EoS 2x 4 kW, 2x 15 kW, Zynth, Behind the Meter Applications(CEC) [1]

Provenance

4 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 2020-10-20

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
    DERConnect Virtual Tour

    University of California San Diego · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Energy Storage and Microgrid Laboratories

    University of California San Diego · Primary source

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