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    ELM Microgrid & Solar Celebrates Grand Opening of Texas Manufacturing Site

    April 18, 2024
    The new factory, coupled with ELM’s manufacturing site in nearby Oklahoma, will help the company increase its production line to about 1,000 microgrids annually. ELM also is moving its UK partner Naked Energy’s Virtu solar thermal technology manufacturing operations into The Colony site.
    Image credit ELM
    662150726f4702001ebfc967 Elm Manufacturing

    A U.S.-based microgrid company is stepping up to help its home state of Texas expand its already robust function as a center link in the domestic microgrid and solar thermal supply chain.

    ELM Microgrid and ELM Solar opened their new manufacturing and distribution facility Thursday in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. The 125,000-square-foot facility will be home to microgrid and solar thermal technology design, manufacturing, and logistics.

    The new factory, coupled with ELM’s manufacturing site in nearby Oklahoma, will help the company increase its production line to about 1,000 microgrids annually. ELM also is moving its UK partner Naked Energy’s Virtu solar thermal technology manufacturing operations into The Colony site.

    Image credit ELM
    elm_system

    “By leveraging innovative technologies and a talented workforce, we aim to meet the growing demand for common-sense, resilient energy solutions and drive the energy economy that Texas is world famous for,” ELM Companies Founder and Chairman Lee C. Graves said in a statement celebrating the grand opening.

    ELM also unveiled its second-generation battery energy storage system (BESS) during the event opening of the Texas manufacturing site. The facility initially creates work for 70 jobs and plans to more than double that total soon.

    Among ELM’s microgrid and solar customers have included the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Highbourne Cay Resort in the Bahamas, and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. One of the tactical reasons for locating the manufacturing site in the nation’s center is to shorten the supply chain for future commercial and industry microgrid customers.

    “We believe that American manufacturing is not just about producing goods; it’s about investing in our communities, empowering our workforce and driving sustainable economic growth,” Aron Bowman, president of ELM Microgrid and ELM Solar, said. “By establishing our cutting-edge facility in Texas, we reaffirm our dedication to American innovation and the importance of local manufacturing in shaping a resilient and prosperous future.”

    Texas tops the nation among states for microgrid installations, according to multiple reports. In addition, last year Texas voters approved a $10 billion energy resiliency bill that includes about $1.8 billion for microgrids and aggregated distributed energy resources.

    Parent company ELM Companies, which is based in Illinois, was started in 1998 and offers services not only in microgrids and solar but also utility services and cloud-based utility mapping.

    The onshoring incentives of the U.S. Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts has led numerous clean energy companies to begin locating manufacturing and distribution facilities nationwide.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

    For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    I’ve spent the last 15 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 33-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.

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    Source: Bloom Energy
    BWRX-300 SMR rendering credit to GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
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    Photos courtesy Oregon Clean Power Cooperative
    Deborah Westlight, operations manager with the Oregon Clean Power Cooperative, raises her arms in celebration of the solar panel portion of the project.
    Illustration credit AMP Tracks/Shutterstock.com
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    JFK Rendering Credit AlphaStruxure
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