Black & Veatch dedicates microgrid at its Overland Park headquarters

Black & Veatch, the area’s largest engineering firm, on Tuesday celebrated the commissioning of a microgrid, a system of renewable and natural-gas-fired power for its world headquarters in Overland Park.

Besides providing power for the headquarters’ Rodman Innovation Pavilion, and for some of its electric vehicle charging stations, the microgrid will give the firm a chance to evaluate its efficiencies, the company said in a news release.

The grid, besides using geothermal energy, has three rooftop solar photovoltaic panel groups, two gas-fired microturbines, and a lithium-ion battery energy storage system.

It also can provide backup power if there is an outage, the company said.

The system also has a large screen display that lets visitors see how the different technologies interact in real time. The company release said the system’s “cloud based analytics platform” collects data from the system and tracks how each component is doing, accounting for factors such as solar radiation, cloud cover and outside temperature. The tracking of the energy generation and the building’s energy use will give insights into ways to improve the system, Black & Veatch said.

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Black & Veatch dedicates microgrid at its Overland Park headquarters."