Colorado Funds 28 Microgrids Fire Stations Shelters
- Emergency & Local Government Microgrids News
Marin Holt
- 1
- 9 minutes read
- Colorado awarded $15.4 million to 28 community microgrid projects under HB 22-1013
- Program funded 11 planning grants and 17 construction projects at critical facilities
- Platte River Power Authority received $350,000 for 5 MW/20 MWh Estes Park Storage Microgrid
- Microgrids installed at fire stations, community centers, and emergency shelters statewide
- Total program value $17.7 million including required local match contributions
Colorado‘s Microgrids for Community Resilience program awarded $15.4 million to 28 projects that install solar-plus-battery microgrids at fire stations, community centers, and critical facilities across the state. The program, created by House Bill 22-1013, funded 11 planning grants and 17 construction projects totaling $17.7 million including local match contributions.
What Is Being Built
Platte River Power Authority received $350,000 to support a 5 MW/20 MWh battery installation for the Estes Park Storage Microgrid Project. The system provides backup power to the mountain community that depends on limited transmission connections through wildfire-prone corridors.
Poudre Valley Rural Electric Authority received nearly $900,000 for its Livermore microgrid. The project installs a 350 kW/1,200 kWh battery and microgrid controller serving the rural ranching community of Livermore, where a single distribution line represents the only grid connection.
United Power, a member-owned cooperative serving Colorado’s north-central Front Range, received over $700,000 to install microgrid batteries at four fire stations in disadvantaged communities. The City of Westminster added a 75 kW battery system at its Mature Adult Center, providing 12 hours of critical load operation in island mode during grid instability.
Why This Matters
Colorado faces compounding grid risks: wildfire, extreme heat, winter storms, and rapid load growth from data centers along the Front Range. Rural communities served by single transmission lines lose power for days during wildfire seasons. Fire stations without backup power lose communications, water pumping, and coordination capability exactly when emergencies demand them most.
The program targets “community anchor institutions” including schools, fire stations, hospitals, and senior centers. These facilities serve as natural gathering points during emergencies. A microgrid transforms them from passive shelters into active operational hubs with guaranteed power for medical equipment, communications, refrigeration, and HVAC.
Implementation Details
The Colorado Resiliency Office within the Department of Local Affairs manages the grant program. The state released a comprehensive Microgrid Roadmap in January 2025 that guides communities through feasibility assessment, technology selection, utility coordination, and procurement. Projects range from $100,000 single-building installations to multi-million-dollar community-scale systems.
The Estes Park project demonstrates how battery storage protects mountain communities. At 5 MW/20 MWh, the system provides hours of backup for essential services during transmission outages caused by wildfires or winter storms. The Livermore project shows a scaled-down model: 350 kW/1,200 kWh serves a small community where grid redundancy does not exist. Both projects use microgrid controllers that automatically island from the grid during outages and reconnect when service restores.
Sources: Microgrid Knowledge, Colorado Division of Local Government
Critical Analysis
The 5 MW / 20 MWh Estes Park battery-inverter microgrid operates as a purely inverter-based island on a radial distribution feeder with no synchronous generation. 28 community microgrids distributed across Colorado reduce local feeder peak demand at fire stations and shelters, modestly increasing hosting capacity.
Critical Perspective
Colorado is funding $15.4 million for 28 microgrid projects. This funding is comparable to the $15 million in federal grants awarded to Texas for similar resilience projects, which also faced grid instability. The 2017 Puerto Rico microgrid program, intended to bolster resilience after Hurricane Maria, has seen limited deployment and ongoing challenges. Will these 28 microgrids truly provide the promised resilience or become another costly footnote?
