PowerSecure Wins $23M for 3 Battery Microgrids in New Mexico
- Emergency & Local Government Microgrids News
Marin Holt
- 0
- 5 minutes read
- PowerSecure was awarded a $23 million contract on February 16, 2026, to build three battery microgrids for Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in northern New Mexico.
- The three sites, Taos Ski Valley, El Rito West, and Penasco, will total 7.5 MW and 38.25 MWh of LFP battery storage.
- KCEC serves 30,000 members across Taos, Colfax, and Rio Arriba counties and has sourced 100% of daytime power from solar since 2022.
- The microgrids enable Public Safety Power Shutoffs while maintaining critical loads including fire stations and medical facilities.
- PowerSecure is a Southern Company subsidiary with over 2 GW of deployed microgrid capacity.
PowerSecure, a Southern Company subsidiary, announced on February 16, 2026, a $23 million contract with Kit Carson Electric Cooperative to construct three battery energy storage microgrids in northern New Mexico. The systems will allow the cooperative to de-energize transmission lines during high-wildfire-risk conditions while keeping essential community loads, including fire stations, evacuation centers, and facilities serving medically dependent residents, running from local battery storage.
What Is Being Built
The project places lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage systems at three locations: Taos Ski Valley, El Rito West, and Penasco. Together the three installations add 7.5 megawatts of battery power capacity and 38.25 megawatt-hours of energy storage. Each microgrid islands from the main grid during a Public Safety Power Shutoff event, maintaining critical loads for the duration of the shutoff period.
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees awarded the contract to PowerSecure and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. The Taos Ski Valley installation was targeted for completion in 2025; the full three-site project is expected to be complete in 2026. PowerSecure has deployed over two gigawatts of microgrid capacity in its history and provides turnkey engineering, construction, and operations services.
Critical Perspective
The $23M announced here reflects the press-release headline; the conditions, timelines, and cost structures that determine actual delivery are not addressed. Projects of this type in comparable markets have historically run 15-25% over initial timelines due to interconnection review, permitting, or equipment supply constraints. The question energy professionals should be asking: what are the contractual milestones and penalties that ensure this project delivers on its stated specifications and schedule?
Why It Matters
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative serves nearly 30,000 members across Taos, Colfax, and Rio Arriba counties in northern New Mexico, a region subject to extreme wildfire and drought exposure. The cooperative has sourced all of its daytime power from solar since 2022, but lacked localized storage to maintain essential services during planned de-energization events. The core tension, leaving lines energized and risking igniting a wildfire or shutting them down and cutting power to hospitals and emergency services, is now resolved by microgrids that island critical loads independently.
The three LFP battery microgrids create self-sufficient power islands at vulnerable community nodes during wildfire-risk periods. The New Mexico Senate’s recent approval of Senate Bill 235, the Microgrid Oversight Act, signals growing state-level interest in formalizing regulatory oversight of distributed microgrids as they become central to rural grid resilience strategy in the western U.S.
