News

Elisa Wood at Microgrid Knowledge has posted an article about Peña Station NEXT and the planned National Western Center. Below is an excerpt with a link to the full article.

Denver continues to forge ahead with sustainable energy projects, this time with release of a solicitation seeking microgrid developers for the $1 billion National Western Center (NWC).

Denver Mayor Michael Hitchcock says the NWC seeks to pioneer innovative sustainability strategies The city and county have issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for energy developers to help design, build, operate and maintain the microgrid, which includes a district energy system.

The NWC microgrid comes on the heels of Denver’s Peña Station NEXT microgrid, which offers energy for a transit station built as a connector between downtown and the Denver International Airport. That microgrid anchors the energy infrastructure for what eventually is expected to be a 382-acre smart energy community.

With an initial, estimated peak demand of 4.4 MW, the NWC energy project will be built on 250 acres that incorporates the historic National Western Stock Show and the 1909 Stadium Arena, which is undergoing renovation. Denver is expanding and modernizing an existing 91-acre seasonal site via a multi-phased plan to construct a $1 billion, three million-square-foot, year-round tourism, event, education and agricultural center. The new facility is expected to double its customer visits to about 2.2 million per year.

You can read the full article here.