Wake Electric recently welcomed community leaders, members and local home buyers to tour the new residential microgrid located in the Eagle Chase neighborhood of Youngsville. Eagle Chase is a residential microgrid developed in partnership with builder Winslow Homes, Wake Electric and North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, with the goal of providing enhanced electric service, reliability and resiliency as well as reducing peak electricity costs.

Close to 50 guests joined cooperative leaders to learn how Wake Electric and its partners built one of the state’s first resilient neighborhoods using local power resources such as generators, energy storage and water heater controls, while also reducing peak electricity costs.

“Resiliency is really the word that comes to mind when I think of Eagle Chase,” said Don Bowman, vice president of engineering & operations for Wake Electric. “Between the generator and the Tesla battery, there is enough power to energize the neighborhood for 36 hours. Our members in this community should rarely, if ever, experience a power outage. It’s just one more thing that really makes this neighborhood special.”

If severe weather or another event disrupts power from the grid to Eagle Chase, the components of the microgrid will automatically turn on, meaning power outages will last only a few seconds for neighborhood residents. When the weather is good and the microgrid is not needed to power homes, the co-op can utilize the components to provide power to the main grid, increasing reliability and helping save money for all Wake Electric members.

As an additional benefit for residents, the homes in Eagle Chase will integrate the most efficient and up-to-date water heaters and the garages of each home will also be pre-wired for electric vehicle charging. Following testing of components, the microgrid is now fully operational. Residents have moved into several homes, and construction continues on additional properties.