PowerSecure's Labelle Prairie Solar & Storage Project Designed to Boost Cooperative Grid
Work is beginning this summer to install a solar and storage project supporting Wyoming electric cooperative system resiliency by next year.
North Carolina-based microgrid developer PowerSecure is working with Powder River Energy Corp (PRECorp) and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative on the Labelle Prairie project near Moorcroft, Wyoming. The $23.5 million solar and storage site is designed to aid Powder Energy in meeting grid-level peak demand challenges driven by industrial growth and rural load expansion in the region.
The project enables Powder River to manage its own power generation for the first time in the electric cooperative’s history, according to reports.
“This project is about delivering real value for PRECorp’s members,” said Jim Smith, president of PowerSecure, in a statement when the project was announced earlier this year. “By combining battery storage and solar generation, we’re helping the cooperative manage peak demand, strengthen reliability and control costs while helping to ensure the system is ready to support future growth.”
Labelle Prairie will consist of a 5-MW KORE Power battery storage system coupled with 1.25-MW of direct-current and ground-mounted solar energy. The battery system can supply 21.6 MWh of generation at capacity, the companies say.
The grid smoothing system centered around the solar and batteries may help Powder River reduce annual wholesale power costs by $1 million, according to the release.
PowerSecure is expected to complete the project and reach operations in 2027. A division of Southern Co., PowerSecure has developed both microgrids and solar-storage distributed energy projects for numerous commercial and industrial customers, including PGA Tour Studios, Edged Data Center, Reid Health Medical Center, Alabama Power, Georgia Tech University and Butler Farms, among others. The energy services company also has produced on-site power and efficiency upgrades for federal buildings and the U.S. military.
PowerSecure will launch a new webinar at EnergyTech.com next Wednesday, August 26, at 11 a.m. Eastern time (10 CT). “The Emerging Microgrid Technology for Speed to Power for Data Centers” will feature Todd Jackson, vice president of corporate development at PowerSecure, discussing holistic and hybrid approaches to meet the unique challenges of digital infrastructure demand.
Defining and developing a multi-tiered value proposition for microgrid and DER investors will be at the heart of the presentation. Grid-edge generation can deliver outage-proof resiliency, emissions sustainability and revenue opportunities through both data center and grid services.
The PowerSecure EnergyTech.com webinar is free and will be on demand for several months after Wednesday’s live webcast. Click here to learn more and register. Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech.com are both of Endeavor B2B.
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.