FORT WAYNE, Ind. (NETWORK INDIANA) – City leaders in Fort Wayne feel that they are on the cutting edge of energy usage with their new microgrid that launched this month to power the city’s water utilities.

It draws on a newly-completed floating solar panel array, biogas, and traditional natural gas to power the Three Rivers Filtration Plant, the Water Pollution Control Plant, and the Wet-Weather Pump Station.

A microgrid is a local electrical grid with defined electrical boundaries, acting as a single and controllable entity. It is able to operate in grid-connected and in island mode. They can operate independently.

Fort Wayne Utilities Deputy Director Matthew Wirtz says plant operators can switch between different energy sources depending on which is most cost-effective in real time.

“We have extremely high reliability now. If need be, if something happened to our power provider, we could operate on our own for long, extended periods of time,” Wirtz said in an interview with Inside Indiana Business.

The three plants are all on the north side of Fort Wayne and are connected to the micogrid. Wirtz argues that the beauty of it is that the system automatically assesses in real time which source of power is most efficient and uses that. Plant operators can change the power source if needed.

They contracted with the company Solential to build it.

“This is going to be the evolution, or future, of energy in America. You’re, in a sense, becoming more decentralized in your energy grid. You’re employed assets are located closer to the areas that they serve which actually brings up the efficiency,” said Mark Falahee, Solential’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He was also interviewed by Inside Indiana Business.

He says the floating solar concept is rare in the U.S., but more common in Asia and Europe where land prices are high and waterways are available.

Wirtz says the microgrid system could save Fort Wayne from paying $8-$10 million in energy costs over its first 20 years of use. In total, the project cost a little more than $24 million, of which $10 million was granted to the solar panels.

This micogrid in Fort Wayne has already been named Indiana’s Green Project of the Year by Accelerate Indiana Municipalities.