The Onsite Energy Installation Database is a data collection initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and maintained by ICF and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It includes a broad range of onsite electric and thermal energy generation and storage technologies—such as combined heat and power (CHP), fuel cells, geothermal systems, and thermal energy storage, among others.
Data collection efforts focus on onsite energy installations at industrial facilities (all sizes) and at other large energy user sites with installations of 1 MW or greater. Data is primarily collected from public databases including the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Form EIA-860, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Tracking the Sun, and Sandia National Laboratories’ Global Energy Storage databases. The Onsite Energy Installation Database includes all data from DOE’s previous CHP and Microgrid Installation Databases.
Microgrid installations are tracked according to the DOE definition: a network of distributed energy resources and loads that can disconnect and re-connect to the larger utility grid as a single entity, allowing the connected loads to continue to be served during utility outages. Microgrids can also be found in remote locations where they may not be connected to a larger utility grid.
The Onsite Energy Installation Database is accessible via an interactive online map and is also available in a downloadable spreadsheet format. To preserve the details and historical value of the original CHP and Microgrid Installation Databases, users can view these datasets separately through dedicated maps and files. The database is updated on a quarterly basis.