10 Intriguing Distributed Energy Projects & Plans to Watch in 2025
Source: Elisa Wood | · ENERGY CHANGEMAKERS · | January 12, 2025
Hat's off to the innovators, inventors and risk takers who are remaking the electric grid
This is a painful list to create because it’s hard to narrow it down to 10. Nonetheless, I had to stop somewhere so here are my 10 intriguing distributed energy projects and plans to watch in 2025. Let me know what you’d add.
1. An off-grid and urban apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Michigan
My top choice checks all the boxes for advancing distributed energy in a way that promotes energy democracy and does so with cool technology and design innovation.
SouthTown, an eight-story apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Michigan, embodies some big forward-looking concepts. Its electricity system is not connected to the utility grid but operates off-grid with a sophisticated integrated building management and energy management system. The project includes a geothermal field, fuel cells, batteries, solar arrays, and carbon capture system to supply electricity, heating, and cooling for 216 residences, commercial/retail areas, and common areas. SouthTown will use the gas network to bring renewable natural gas (and later hydrogen) to the site. And includes electric vehicle charging parking and an EV riding share program. Learn more by listening to this podcast or reading Going Off-Grid to Tackle Big Problems in Energy and Real Estate.
2. Community solar by and for the community: Sunset Park Solar
Distributed energy allows the sharing of energy wealth in ways centralized energy technologies do not. That’s one of its distinguishing characteristics. But we’re far from figuring out how that will work in practice.
Sunset Park Solar offers a start. The 725-kW solar array in Brooklyn does everything we expect from community solar, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing cost savings to its 150 members. But it goes a step further. Revenue generated by the solar array goes into a community wealth fund that Sunset Park residents decide how to spend, possibly on more solar. The point is that the energy wealth goes back to their community.
Located in South Brooklyn’s waterfront district, the project was developed over several years through local organizing with the help of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), UPROSE, and Working Power. It is meant to serve as a model for future solar projects in New York City, according to First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springe. Construction of the solar array, led by Working Power, is set to begin in early 2025. Read more in the community, on NYCEDC’s website and on Canary Media.