Five Compelling Microgrid Project Storylines Which Fascinated Readers in 2025
The year 2026 may prove unlike any we’ve seen in modern energy project development history.
Future talking points: The current administration favors fossil-fired and nuclear generation, which could turn back decades of growth for renewables and carbon-free power. The utility power grid is ailing, which could mean vast potential for growth at the edge.
For the microgrid sector, the New Year will be hard-pressed to surprise anyone who has paid attention in 2025. This past year itself has been one for the books, with artificial intelligence (AI) and data-center futurism stirring up a near frenzy of debate on how best to power the Industrial Compute Age.
Truth be told, we at Microgrid Knowledge have covered the AI revolution in depth, while we’ve also witnessed intense interest in the need for resilient and on-site power in nearly all sectors. These markets ripe for microgrids include manufacturing, food and beverages and, last but certainly not least, the military.
Our list of Five Compelling Microgrid Project Storylines for 2025 are given to you, our faithful readers, in no particular order. Of course, AI and data centers are driving the big investments, but try telling our nation’s defenders, religious worshippers and critical-caregivers that their projects are less important. Not me.
Giving no power ranking, Microgrid Knowledge lists a quintet of trend-worthy microgrid events which attracted deep readership interest in a very busy 2025.
Churches commit to microgrids
One of MGK’s best-read stories this year was an April piece by Kathy Hitchens about the Sixth District African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia announcing it will install multiple microgrids at churches by the end of 2026. Eventually, Sixth District AME might bring microgrids to more of the denomination’s nearly 500 churches in the state.
Only a few days ago, Hitchens brought the story of Juliana Robinson, a high school senior in Washington state who pushed forward the design and work for a solar and storage microgrid at Methow Valley United Methodist Church. The church microgrid will serve as a resiliency hub for the remote area.
Fast-Food Microgrids: Restaurants Order Up On-Site Power
SolMicroGrid developed new solar-powered projects for Wendy’s and Chick-Fil-A in projects announced this past year. CEO Kirk Edelman said the popular sites wanted to utilize solar capacity at lower costs, so rooftop projects were attractive.
Both Wendy’s and Chick-Fil-A have signed up for co-located solar projects over several years. Food distributor Bimbo Bakeries and winery Domaine Carneros also contracted for microgrids at their California sites. The 2020s is proving big for commercial real-estate connection to microgrid options.
US Military Arming Energy Resiliency with Microgrids
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all have adopted microgrid-ready status at strategic bases. The U.S. Navy is banking on microgrid resiliency globally, including a solar and battery storage project at Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, as well as a battery storage microgrid in Guam.
Intent on not being outdone by its seaworthy counterparts, the U.S. Army unveiled its first hydrogen-powered nanogrid at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, while also completing work at its microgrid project to support Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
SMR Microgrids are Getting All the Buzz with BigTech
2025 was a banner year for attention-getting power purchase deals pairing future small modular reactor deals with digital infrastructure firms such as Microsoft, Google and Oracle.
No SMR projects have yet been built or commissioned in the U.S., so the timeline is well into the 2030s on those deals. Meta, Microsoft, Google and others are willing to tap into the current nuclear power fleet, as well as reviving closed reactors such as the former Three Mile Island Unit 1.
Natural gas is here and now, and the rise of AI is forcing decarbonization re-evaluation
The U.S. is the world’s largest natural gas producer of shale plays and has become the top exporter of liquified natural gas. This drilling abundance is forcing sustainability-focused firms to reconsider their near-term plans while they wait for carbon-free options such as SMR nuclear, hydrogen and renewables to develop at scale to meet the needs of future electrification and processing capacity.
Data center and AI-enabled computing may require another 125 GW or more in generation capacity over the coming decade, so it’s “generate or perish” in the global race to maintain AI dominance. Companies such as NVIDIA, FedEx, Global Infrastructure Partners and VoltaGrid see the energy crisis as immediate and requiring an “all of the above” energy approach.
About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Head of Content
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.