Montgomery County has installed a Microgrid Project at Montgomery County’s Public Safety Headquarters (PSHQ) located at 100 Edison Park Dr., Gaithersburg, Maryland as part of a comprehensive effort to ensure the resiliency of critical public services during major electric distribution system outages. PSHQ is the County’s primary administrative hub for a range of critical public services. The facility houses much of Montgomery County’s transportation management resources, components of the County’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the police station serving much of the central part of the County.

The project includes multiple clean energy technologies integrated to operate seamlessly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5,900 metric tons annually, the equivalent of taking more than 1,200 cars off the road. The project design includes 2 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic canopies mounted over the existing parking lot, an 800 KW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system, electric vehicle charging stations and a cyber security system. The facility benefits from Maryland’s credits provided under Maryland policies that favor clean energy sources and a combined aggregate net energy metering policy which allows government organizations to credit excess generation to other facilities and receive a retail credit for each kilowatt hour generated. In addition, the project upgraded the existing medium and low voltage infrastructure for the facility. PSHQ is the first facility of its kind to achieve Platinum certification from the Green Business Certification Inc.’s (GBCI) PEER rating system recognizing sustainable infrastructure. PEER (Performance Excellence in Energy Renewal) is the power system corollary to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system.

The County’s microgrid project is a Public-Private Partnership. Duke Energy Renewables will own and operate the system for its 25-year service life. Schneider Electric will construct and maintain the system. The project is a national model to improve the resiliency of local governments and is receiving national attention. The project is expected to be an example to other communities looking to protect similar public services.