Eaton helps Wisconsin school district cost-effectively energize the future of sustainable education with turnkey microgrid solution

Background:

The Menasha Joint School District in Wisconsin is committed to creating safe, secure and adaptable learning environments that reflect the evolving needs of students and the community. Their vision includes facilities that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and sustainable.

In 2024, the school district set out to construct Maplewood Intermediate/Middle School from the ground up to embody this commitment. To achieve the highest standards for academic building design, the district sought advanced energy conservation strategies that would help maximize savings and support regional carbon neutrality goals.

The district also aimed to establish Wisconsin’s second net-zero school, leveraging innovative technologies that would help reduce environmental impact, improve air quality and conserve taxpayer dollars. Eaton was selected to help the district realize this vision through its expansive solutions, proven expertise and innovative Buildings as a Grid approach that helps customers build flexible, future-proof building energy systems to decarbonize and manage power far more effectively.

This project would set a new precedent for how educational institutions can lead the way in energy innovation, combining environmental stewardship with long-term financial sustainability and energy resilience.

Challenge:

The primary goal for the building’s electrical system was to seamlessly integrate and manage multiple onsite distributed energy resources (DERs) – including solar PV, battery storage and a backup generator – to deliver net-zero energy performance while ensuring compliant interconnection with the regional electric grid.

The 1.2 MWac solar installation would become the largest ever at a K-12 facility in the region and required extensive collaboration with the local utility. The utility had never interconnected a project of this magnitude, and their alignment with the project was essential.

“Our utility needed to be confident that the system would operate safely and reliably under all conditions,” said Brian Adesso, director of business services at Menasha Joint School District “Eaton bridged that gap by working closely with project team to ensure every element of the microgrid’s functionality met the utility’s rigorous requirements for grid stability and reliability.”

To achieve this, Eaton’s microgrid engineering team collaborated closely with its project partners to refine the building’s load shedding strategies, grounding configurations and protection schemes to ensure the system could safely disconnect from the grid during outages while maintaining critical uptime within the building.

“From electrical distribution to energy storage, intelligent controls and grid interconnection, Eaton provided a solution for every piece of the puzzle,” said Brian Adesso. “Their depth of expertise and comprehensive approach, from project visualization to execution, was invaluable in helping us achieve our net-zero goals.”

The microgrid controller enables real-time energy optimization, managing when and how electricity is consumed. It uses load shedding protocols to disconnect non-essential systems during peak demand or outages, preserving battery life and reducing reliance on the school’s backup generator.

During normal operation, solar energy powers the building, while any excess generation is either stored in the battery system or exported back to the grid. At night, when utility rates are lower, the batteries are recharged using off-peak grid energy. Intelligent controls then strategically utilize stored energy and, when necessary, shed predetermined non-essential loads to avoid costly peak demand charges – ensuring optimal energy efficiency and cost savings.

“The system is smart enough to know when to charge, when to discharge and when to shed loads,” Adesso explained. “It’s like having a full-time energy manager working behind the scenes to optimize our onsite energy resources.”

The microgrid also provides critical “islanding” capabilities during outages, ensuring essential building assets such as lighting, air circulation and emergency systems remain operational when the grid is down.

Further, Eaton’s North American manufacturing capabilities helped the district navigate Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credit requirements, ensuring the project met domestic preference standards and maximized financial incentives.

Results:

The Maplewood Intermediate/Middle School microgrid is expected to deliver $190,000 in annual energy savings by leveraging peak shaving strategies, intelligent load management and optimized DER performance.

The system maximizes renewable energy consumption during high-cost periods, charges batteries during off-peak hours and dynamically sheds non-essential loads to avoid utility demand charges.

In addition, the microgrid ensures resilient backup power during unexpected utility outages, extending runtime through critical load isolation and coordinated use of solar, battery storage and a backup generator.

“We built this facility to be a model for educational and environmental responsibility,” Adesso continued. “The energy savings are the icing on the cake, but the real value is in how the electrical system can support the health and academic goals of our students and staff every day.”

With the new microgrid installed on time, the school was able to open prior to the 2025 academic year and is now producing community benefits including improved air quality, optimized energy use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Residents are proud of the district’s leadership in sustainability and its commitment to conserving resources and taxpayer dollars.

“This project is something the whole community can be proud of,” Adesso said. “It’s not only a truly amazing learning environment, but also a showcase how efficient, smart and sustainable energy strategies can help maximize school district budgets and preserve the environment for future generations.”

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