Moorhead pursues hydrogen battery microgrid at City Hall with state grant and BWR Innovations

The Moorhead City Council voted Feb. 9 to accept a Minnesota Department of Commerce grant to pilot a hydrogen battery microgrid at City Hall and approved a related budget adjustment and agreement with BWR Innovations.

Ethan Jonk of Community Development explained that the funding comes from the department’s "microgrids at community lifeline facilities" grant program, intended to support demonstration microgrids that can operate with the larger electric grid or in an islanded mode during outages. Jonk said the award would fund installation of "a hydrogen battery microgrid and telemetry system at City Hall to provide a backup source of energy for the IT server room, ensuring uninterrupted clean power at this location during the event of a power outage."

Joel (Dr.) Jorgensen, affiliated with BWR Innovations, told the council the technology has been backed by research funding from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and U.S. Army Research Laboratory and described it as an opportunity to advance community resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "This is an amazing technology with the opportunity to work with the city of Moorhead on groundbreaking work," he said.

Councilmembers moved and approved the related items together after a councilmember sought to include both agenda items; the motion carried on roll‑call vote. Mayor Shelley Carlson thanked staff for pursuing energy efficiency and invited a demonstration from the vendor at a later date.

The city said the microgrid project aligns with goals in the Onward Moorhead comprehensive plan’s sustainability chapter. Staff indicated they and the vendor would be available to answer additional questions and would return with implementation details and scheduling for a public demonstration or presentation. Funding terms, total project cost and procurement details were not specified in the meeting record and will be developed as staff and the vendor proceed.