Acadia Energy Corp. completed a joint development agreement with Alternus Clean Energy to develop 200 megawatts (MW) of microgrids in upstate New York, Acadia announced May 9.

The microgrids, representing $300 million in contract revenue, are in the predevelopment stage, and property parcels, energy and interconnection assessments have been analyzed.

A microgrid connects distributed energy sources as a single entity that can be connected and disconnected to a larger grid to improve reliability, according to the National Renewable Energy Labratory.

This initiative is expected to help New York meet its clean energy targets and ensure communities are benefiting directly from local resources, both companies said.

Acadia said it created a new energy deployment model for the microgrids that creates localized partnerships. The partnership looks to deploy the microgrids as sustainability hubs.

The hub acts as an “economic development engine” for local communities to attract new businesses by offering low-cost renewable energy and providing energy discounts to local residents and businesses, Acadia said.

"Our shared vision for a sustainable future and Acadia’s extensive experience in developing a pipeline of over 1.4 gigawatts of projects provides a solid foundation for this multi-phase initiative, which will be implemented in 200 MW phases," said John Bay, CEO of Acadia.

Acadia and Alternus expect to begin commercial operations within two years, with both companies equally sharing project development costs.

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