Campus Microgrids

Orlando's Magical Microgrid Possibilities: City of Light Works to Enlighten the Future of Distributed Energy

June 29, 2025

Orlando, home of Disneyworld and known as the Theme Park Capital of the World by many, has several major entities engaged in serious, long-term microgrid and distributed energy research throughout the 2020s.

Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor

68619a49abb80692ef636129 Orlando Shutterstock

Before this decade flies by like an elephant in the sky, some of the biggest microgrid innovations may be conceived in a city which thinks magic is possible.

Orlando, home of Disneyworld and known as the Theme Park Capital of the World and the City of Light by many, has several major entities engaged in serious, long-term microgrid and distributed energy research throughout the 2020s.

The latest includes a collaboration between municipal provider Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) and startup Capacitech Energy on a microgrid which is focused on bringing power stability to a floating solar project.

Even before that work started, the University of Central Florida initiated its UCF Microgrid Control Lab within the College of Engineering and Computer Science on the main campus in Orlando. The UCF Microgrid Control Lab was unveiled four years ago with co-sponsorship from utility Florida Power & Light and GE Digital, offering students first-hand research opportunities around various grid-control and distributed energy operations.

UCF is a home to Capacitech Energy through the university’s Business Incubation Program. Capacitech is working with OUC on testing the company’s proprietary PowerLink rapid-response energy storage system.

Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Department of Energy also are working with the municipal utility and startup Capacitech Energy on integrating a 1000-panel floating solar array which can send 31.5-kilowatt of electricity back into the OUC and Florida grid, according to a report about the pilot project via the American Public Power Association (APPA).

“One way to accommodate new energy demands is by identifying creative solutions that allow us to store and dispatch power when, and where, it’s most needed,” Paul Brooker, OUC manager of emerging technologies, said in a response quoted by the APPA earlier this year. “We’re excited to test this innovative product, developed by inventors in our own Orlando community, that could someday help energy storage needs across the nation,” he said.

The intent of the Capacitech PowerLink design is to improve microgrid reliability and stability. The project is conducted within OUC’s Grid Integration Laboratory.

Microgrid technology and backup power are intensely studied and deployed for good reason within the state of Florida, especially in the wake of several high-category hurricanes. A microgrid installation databased offered online by the U.S. Department of Energy notes numerous official microgrid projects, including work by Duke Energy Florida, Florida International University, Florida Power & Light, Seminole Tribe, PowerSecure and Tampa Electric and Pensacola Christian College, in addition to the Orlando projects involving UCF and OUC.

At the University of Central Florida, its UCF Campus Master Plan 2025-35 includes tentative plans to evaluate the options and possibly transition the campus to a microgrid integrating renewable energy, battery storage and controller technologies. The goal is reducing campus energy costs and improving reliability of the campus grid, according to the report.

The upcoming Microgrid Knowledge Conference 2026 will be in Orlando. The MGK event will run May 4-6 at the Renaissance SeaWorld. Duke Energy Florida will be the utility sponsor for the event.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor | 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.