Sharpsburg Mayor Kayla Portis said the new year will usher in a public works project that is expected to be a game-changer for the borough.

Allegheny County Health Department has awarded $1 million to Sharpsburg to build a resiliency microgrid, a self-contained independent energy system.

Eyed as a series of solar panels on the public works garage and yard along 19th Street, the grid is expected to generate enough electricity to operate critical functions during a catastrophic power outage.

It’s a huge boon to residents, Portis said, “especially for a borough that has been subjected to many power outages.”

Storage capacity will allow operations for up to two weeks.

“The borough is in one of the most flood-prone areas in the county,” manager Christine DeRunk said. “Having a place where we can operate critical infrastructure in the event of catastrophic flooding is really important. Down 16th Street, where the borough building is located, can flood. It’s better to be able to move to higher ground and operate critical functions during those catastrophic events.”

The solar array will produce enough power to offset most of Sharpsburg municipal building’s electric demands, county spokeswoman Abigail Gardner said.

“Excess power that is not used by the buildings or charging the battery system would go back into the grid,” she said.

The county health department grant was made available through the Clean Air Act fund. No borough matching funds are required. Selections were made by scoring projects on climate resiliency and reducing air emissions, Gardner said.

“Sharpsburg is a community susceptible to flooding and their project will help the borough be resilient in the face of floods and provide uninterrupted service to the community,” she said.

During typical days, the microgrid can generate enough electricity to make the borough a net exporter of energy, eliminating the borough’s electric bills that are consumption-based, DeRunk said.

“We’ll generate enough electricity to offset that and even possibly have revenue,” she said. “That’s exciting for budgetary reasons as well. It cuts greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a win for the environment and for climate change.”

Potential total savings are unclear but the borough lists electricity expenses in several parts of its financial reports.

From January to September 2024, the borough spent the following for electricity: about $5,400 for recreation, about $9,700 for the library, about $35,200 for streetlights, about $1,200 for traffic signals, about $2,100 for solid waste and about $4,200 for planning and zoning, among other areas.

The idea for a microgrid isn’t new in the borough. It was initially floated by former Mayor Brittany Reno in 2022. A feasibility study was completed that year but the project was shelved.

Now, it’s in the design phase. The number of panels and their sizes have yet to be determined. The goal is to create a 202.5-kilowatt system with a 209-kilowatt-hour battery storage system.

DeRunk expects the grant agreement process with the county to be done this spring. She is hopeful that construction will start this year.

“It may not be finished until next year,” she said. “It just depends on how quickly all these other pieces are done. With climate change, we don’t really know what that holds for us. There may be other times when the grid goes out. We’ll be able to continue operations for two weeks during the darkest time of the year. If it’s July and it’s sunny then it would last more than two weeks.”

Public works foreman Dominic Magnelli declined to comment on the project.

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