Common Council to Take Up DOE Grant for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

Next Tuesday, the Madison Common Council will take up a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Connected Communities initiative, which advances changes to the electric grid to cut energy costs and emissions.

The grant award is in partnership with Slipstream and MGE, Rocky Mountain Institute, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and bluEvolution, and the total amount of the award will be over $5 million to multiple partners for work through 2027. The grant will be used to convert approximately 15 facilities in Madison into grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs). These buildings use technology upgrades to vary their energy use hour-to-hour, or even minute-to-minute – based on the total energy load on the electric grid at the time. This helps GEBs act very efficiently and helps reduce peak electric loads on the grids to make the best use of renewable energy.

This lowers utility bills and reduces grid system costs while reducing carbon emissions. This project is expected to garner a total energy savings of around 39%.

The City will receive $1,157,855 in grant funding to implement GEB strategies in 5-6 municipal buildings. Grid-interactive technologies will include lighting controls, smart inverters, battery storage, solar photovoltaic expansion, electric vehicle chargers, lighting and HVAC integration. These upgrades will provide a scalable model for utilities to pursue similar upgrades across multiple building sizes in the public and private sectors.

This grant is one of many strategies that helps Madison reach its goal of 100% renewable energy and net-zero carbon emissions for City operations by 2030 and community-wide by 2050.

“By having facilities that are well suited to integrate with and optimize electric grid operations, we can show a pathway to effectively reducing and shifting our energy demand,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “Buildings are a major source of carbon emissions, but they can be part of the solution if they can be used to help our electric grid operate efficiently and maximize the use of renewable energy.”

The Resolution was passed by the City’s Finance Committee and will go before the Madison Common Council for a final vote on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.