City of Cadillac Chooses Schneider Electric, Budderfly to Make Civic Infrastructure Resilient
On-site energy-as-a-service integrator Schneider Electric and Budderfly will team up to provide hybrid microgrid and energy efficiency solutions to help generate and save power at a northern Michigan city’s critical municipal facilities.
The city of Cadillac’s council leadership chose the two companies to deliver distributed energy resources across seven municipal sites, including city hall and the wastewater treatment plant. Led by Budderfly’s energy-as-a-service (EaaS) model, Cadillac will have no upfront costs on the project and will pay for the energy generated through its annual savings going forward.
The power generation portion of the $4.4 million contract consists of installing solar panels, battery energy storage and integrated microgrid capabilities that will allow the municipal facilities to function even during grid outages. The contract also focuses on energy efficiency through HVAC heating, cooling and lighting system upgrades, as well as installing electric vehicle infrastructure.
“This project is about taking a smarter, more resilient approach to serving our community,” said Cadillac City Manager Marcus Peccia in a statement. “We’re able to modernize critical infrastructure, strengthen the reliability of essential services that residents rely on every day and bring greater predictability to our energy costs, all without requiring upfront taxpayer investment.”
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Schneider Electric will deliver integration technologies including energy management, automation equipment and monitoring. The Cadillac project is being enabled through the Schneider Electric-led Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative announced last year in collaboration with Microsoft.
The Cadillac City Council approved the project on July 20. The city will fund the upgrades through ongoing operational savings and long-term energy cost predictability.
“Communities across the U.S. are looking for faster, more flexible ways to modernize infrastructure and strengthen resilience without taking on additional financial and operational risk,” said Michele Hix, Vice President, Strategic Customers & Segments, North America Operations, Schneider Electric. “Through our Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative and collaboration with partners like Budderfly, we’re advancing energy technology and helping cities like Cadillac deploy critical solutions at speed, unlocking access to cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy systems.”
Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative’s available financing already tops $7.5 billion, according to Schneider Electric and partners. In addition to Schneider Electric, Budderfly and Microsoft, other companies engaged and supporting the initiative’s work are Arcadis, Sunrock Distributed Generation, Zurich Resilience Solutions and more than 30 other participating entities.
“Cities shouldn’t have to choose between modernizing critical infrastructure and managing limited budgets,” said Al Subbloie, CEO, Budderfly. “This project demonstrates how municipalities can deploy resilient energy systems quickly and affordably, without taking on additional capital burden.”
City leaders estimate Cadillac’s annual expenditures will be about $27 million this fiscal year, nearly $2 million above currently anticipated revenue. The municipality spends several hundred thousand dollars on energy and utility costs annually, according to reports.
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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 18 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 36-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.