Faraday Microgrid Tiers — Strategic
For organizations considering energy as a strategic asset.
Tailored microgrid architectures for portfolios, campuses, and process-integrated facilities who arrive with a defined strategic objective and the in-house technical and financial capacity to execute against it.
If you have an energy lead, a treasury, or capital planning team, and your project scope goes beyond anything a productized and fixed-scope installation could provide, consider the Strategic Tier to be your first step.
Strategic is for experiencedenergy buyers, not first-time microgrid prospects.
The Strategic Tier comes about because some organizations need results that exceed the capabilities of any productized, fixed-scope solution available from Faraday or our competitors. The indicators have little to do with industry verticals and everything to do with capability and scope. The four indicators listed below outline the buyer criteria that the Strategic Tier is designed to address. Organizations not fitting these criteria will most likely find more success with the Resilience, Endurance, or Independence Tier.
In-house energy and capital sophistication
The organization has an in-house energy team, a sustainability or decarbonization lead, a treasury function, or a capital allocation group engaged in the decision. The Strategic prospect is not a single facility manager evaluating a backup solution; the prospect is a multi-stakeholder organizational decision with a defined process owner and a defined approval path.
Defined strategic objective
The prospect arrives with a specific objective — coordinated dispatch across a portfolio, decarbonization of a process-integrated thermal system, market participation in CAISO energy or ancillary-services markets, capital-stack optimization through tax-equity or portfolio-level financing — rather than a generic interest in microgrid pricing. The conversation begins with the objective and works backward to the technical scope.
Scope beyond the productized envelope
The technical scope inherently exceeds what Resilience, Endurance, or Independence can deliver as a fixed-scope productized install. Common markers: multi-site portfolios under coordinated energy management; campus-scale systems with combined heat and power, thermal storage, or geothermal integration; advanced forecast-based dispatch optimization across multiple value streams; tenant-level submetering and sub-PPA structures; multi-source resilience with process-integrated heat recovery.
Capital structure beyond standard PPA or equipment lease
Direct ownership with tax-equity partnership, portfolio-level PPA across multiple sites, hybrid structures, or project finance with non-standard capital partners. The Strategic prospect’s capital stack is part of the problem to be solved, not an option chosen from a menu.
If three or four of these markers describe your organization, the next block describes the kinds of work the Strategic tier delivers.
Representative Strategic-tier scope.
These are example projects at the Strategic Tier level – NOT an offering of options. Each Strategic engagement is scoped individually in relation to the objective of the prospect. Notice the commonality amongst all of the examples: well-defined objectives, smart stakeholders, scoping that goes beyond a packaged, fixed-scope install project, and financing that fits the project.
Example 1 — Portfolio-level coordination
A multi-site (10+) retail or distribution network that is coordinating battery dispatch with utility programs. Battery installations are provided to sites according to their tier needs; while at the level above, the control layer is responsible for coordinating the battery dispatch, optimizing for demand charge reduction in a portfolio fashion.
Example 2 — Campus-scale CHP and thermal integration
Industrial manufacturing facility that incorporates microgrid technology for combined heat and power for thermal and electricity needs. The scope would cover energy storage, process integrated heat recovery, and control systems for optimizing electrical, thermal, and process loads together. It also involves a capital structure involving tax equity partnership, and a broader scope during pre-engineering phases.
Example 3 — Advanced controls and market participation
Facility or portfolio participating in CAISO energy and/or ancillary service markets as opposed to a passive demand response program. This may encompass optimization based on advanced forecasting, value stack optimization across multiple streams, and interface with any existing energy management or trading systems belonging to the prospect.
Example 4 — Tenant-level structures in multi-tenant commercial
This refers to a multi-tenant commercial building that employs sub-metering and suballocation of services at the tenant level, perhaps even involving sub-PPAs (power purchase agreements). The scope will include tenant-level service allocation, the engineering thereof, the contracts and structuring, and the transition to a property manager in charge of tenants.
Example 5 — Multi-source resilience for process-critical campuses
A healthcare campus, water utility, agricultural operation, or research facility with multi-source resilience requirements — solar, battery, fuel cell or linear generator, plus a connection to the prospect’s existing distributed assets — under a single controls and dispatch layer. Process-integrated heat recovery typical where applicable.
These are not default projects either. The reason for the existence of the Strategic tier is that the companies who require these deliverables are sophisticated enough to purchase these, and they do not benefit from being part of a product offering. The next section covers how the engagement process works.
How a Strategic engagement works.
Engagement begins with the objective, not the install
The first step in strategic engagements involves setting the objective for the deal, which is an intended outcome that the company seeks to achieve. After setting the objective, the engagement then proceeds in a reverse manner to develop the custom scope of technology and capital structures. Strategic engagements do not begin with predefined products or configurations of sites. The initial conversation takes place with Faraday’s leadership team, not a sales intake. Please see the consultation request at the bottom of this page.
Pre-engineering scope is expanded
The engagement typically begins with a pre-engineering scoping effort that goes well above and beyond that of a standard Faraday Feasibility Study. This can include enhanced load modeling at either the site, facility, or process equipment level, as appropriate. There might even be multi-site or portfolio-wide analysis, if applicable. We will assist in structuring the tax and capital stack for the prospect in consultation with their CFO/treasury department, and outside tax counsel. The enhanced pre-engineering scoping effort is an engaged service for the specific project – not a study.
Pricing and contracting are project-by-project
There are no predetermined pricing ranges or timeframes for strategic projects since the scope is determined collaboratively rather than selected from a menu. The prices depend on the technical and capital scope of the transaction. The terms of the contract vary by case, and they may involve outright purchase, tax equity partnership, portfolio level power purchase agreement (PPA), or any other innovative capital structure and project finance with special capital providers. Faraday would propose an appropriate arrangement taking into account the needs of the prospective customer regarding taxation, financing, and controlling issues as well as the risks involved.
Who Faraday engages with
Faraday steps in only after there has been a clear indication of the strategic purpose by the potential partner and that the partner is able to manage an unconventional project. Both parties' leaders lead the discussion without exception. Typical participants would include an energy and sustainability manager, a financial manager, and an engineer who understands the technology involved. Once your team is clear on this, filling in the form below becomes logical.
The capability question, answered.
Faraday’s engineering team designed and delivered the first islandable acute-care hospital microgrid in the United States, Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center, an acute-care hospital where uninterrupted power is not a preference but a clinical requirement. The team’s contributions to the National Electrical Code shaped the rules that govern how every microgrid in the country interconnects with the utility grid today. The grant track record — California Energy Commission–funded healthcare and institutional projects — is the body of work that proved out the engineering rigor and stakeholder coordination Strategic engagements require.
The hospital pedigree is the closest analog Faraday has to the engineering and capital sophistication Strategic-tier scope demands. A 10-site retail portfolio under coordinated dispatch is a smaller-stakes version of a multi-stakeholder, regulated-environment engineering problem the team has already solved. A campus-scale CHP integration is a smaller-stakes version of the process-integrated thermal and electrical coordination the hospital work required. An advanced-controls and market-participation engagement is a smaller-stakes version of the dispatch-and-resilience optimization the hospital microgrid runs every day. That’s what it means to call Faraday’s experience proof of capability rather than a portfolio bullet.
Not sure Strategic is the right starting point?
If you have a facility with a singular installation, where a backup-duration goal has been set (either short-term with a duration between 4-12 hours, or multi-day) and the productized fixed-scope installation meets this criteria without the need for portfolio planning, campus-level thermal optimization, or custom capital structure requirements, then Endurance should be considered your ideal starting point. Endurance is Faraday’s primary commercial tier — the productized solar + battery + automatic islanding install with 4–12 hours of critical-load backup, paid as one operating expense via PPA or equipment lease. See Endurance →
Common questions about the Strategic tier.
Project scope considerations that are not part of the productized Resilience, Endurance, or Independence tiers. Indicators include projects that involve multiple commercial/industrial facilities under unified energy management; campus energy systems including co-generation, thermal energy storage, or geothermal; projects actively involved in CAISO energy or ancillary services market versus passive demand response; project scope including forecast-driven optimization for multiple revenue sources; and capital structure that involves more sophisticated forms of investment aside from PPA and leasing, such as tax equity investment or financing at the portfolio level. Strategic opportunity projects are those where there is an internal energy team, treasury function, or capital allocation team involved in the decision, and where they have a specific strategy in mind beyond just the pricing of microgrids.
Representative examples include: a 10+ site retail or distribution portfolio under coordinated battery dispatch and utility-program participation; an industrial manufacturing campus integrating a microgrid with combined heat and power for both electrical and thermal demand; a multi-tenant commercial property with tenant-level submetering, allocation, and potentially sub-PPA structures; a healthcare campus with process-integrated heat recovery and multi-source resilience; or a water-utility or agricultural operation with variable load profile requiring forecast-based optimization against CAISO prices. None of these are default projects — the Strategic tier exists because the organizations that need these outcomes have the engineering and capital sophistication to buy them, and they are not well served by a productized offering.
Strategic projects do not have published price ranges or standard timelines because the scope is defined collaboratively rather than selected from a menu. Engagement typically begins with an expanded pre-engineering scope that goes beyond a standard Feasibility Study — deeper load modeling, multi-site or portfolio-level analysis, tax and capital-stack structuring, and coordination with the prospect’s internal technical and financial teams. Strategic projects are quoted on a project-by-project basis. Contract structures vary with the deal: direct ownership, tax-equity partnership, portfolio-level PPA, or hybrid. Faraday engages Strategic prospects only after they have articulated a specific strategic objective and demonstrated the internal capacity to buy a non-standard project. These conversations start with Faraday’s leadership team, not with a standard sales intake.
Have a Strategic-tier question that isn’t answered here? The consultation request below is the right place to ask it.
For an organization that feels prepared to move forward with the scoping of a Strategic engagement, the next step will be a consultation.
This is a discussion with Faraday leadership and the prospect’s key energy, technical, and financial decision-makers. Plan for 60-90 minutes. The areas of discussion include your strategic goal, scope shaping, and engagement & pre-engineering processes. There is no set agenda but rather a discussion that builds from your strategic goal.