The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) Office of Energy Innovation (OEI) published the final reports from the Critical Infrastructure Microgrids and Community Resilience Centers (CIMRC) grant program. The CIMCRC program was established in 2021 and focuses on innovative pre-disaster mitigation through critical infrastructure microgrids and other resilient building strategies by studying the feasibility of the deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs) and appropriately sized storage, along with grid-interactive controls. Supported with U.S. State Energy Program funds, the program funded 15 feasibility studies for microgrids at community-defined critical facilities to support the clean and resilient energy objectives of tribes, universities, municipalities, and other entities.
The WI OEI published an Interactive Story Map to accompany the final reports and highlight project locations, scope, and other details.
The WI OEI will continue to support Microgrid developments across Wisconsin through the Energy Innovation Grant Program, pending future Commission decisions.
For additional information on the program background previously reported by NASEO, click here. NASEO’s Microgrid State Working Group provided vital support and technical assistance to the OEI team to get the CIMCRC program off the ground and continues to share resources and facilitate discussion between State Energy Offices and Public Utility Commissions.