The Library That Thinks Like a Power Plant
- Keith Reynolds
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Why Manchester, CT’s new microgrid-powered library is a blueprint for campuses and civic real estate.
When Manchester, Connecticut, set out to build a new main library on Main Street, the selling points sounded familiar: more space, better technology, and a brighter civic living room for a town that had long outgrown its existing branch. Voters approved bonds in 2022, state and federal grants followed, and a $50 million, 75,000-square-foot “21st-century library” began to rise downtown. What was not obvious from the renderings is that the building will function as something else: a small, neighborhood-scale power plant.
This month, power management company Eaton announced it will deliver a clean energy microgrid for the new Manchester Public Library, pairing rooftop solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging with smart controls designed to interact with the grid. When it opens in 2026, the building is expected to be Connecticut’s first newly constructed, all-electric, net-zero-energy-ready public library.
For real estate owners and campus planners, the project is more than a feel-good sustainability story. It is a working example of how a civic anchor can be designed, from day one, to manage its own power—and help stabilize the neighborhood around it.
A library that makes and manages its own power
At the heart of the project is a microgrid, a term that can sound more technical than it is.
Eaton will equip the library with about 370 kilowatts of solar panels and a battery energy storage system, all tied together with controls that decide when to use power on-site, when to store it, and when to send excess back to the grid. The same system will manage electric vehicle chargers in the parking area. In practice, that means:
On sunny days, the building can run largely on its own solar power.
When production exceeds the library’s needs, the battery can charge or the system can export power to the utility.
During peak hours, when grid power is more expensive or strained, the library can draw from the battery instead.
If there is an outage, the system can keep key loads running long enough to ride through short events or provide a bridge until backup plans kick in.
Eaton calls this its Buildings as a Grid approach—treating a building not as a passive consumer of electricity, but as a flexible node that can respond to price signals and grid conditions. For library patrons, most of this activity will be invisible. Lights will turn on, Wi-Fi will work, and EV chargers will be ready. Under the hood, the library will be constantly adjusting how it uses, stores, and sells power.
Why this matters to owners and campus developers
If you own a downtown block, a university campus, or a medical complex, Manchester’s library offers three lessons.
1. Microgrids are no longer pilot projects
This is not a lab experiment behind a fence. It is the new main library, funded by voters and state bonding, expected to serve as one of the town’s busiest public buildings for decades.
Eaton is providing not just hardware, but turnkey engineering services and return-on-investment modeling to the town—the same kind of financial analysis a private owner would expect when deciding whether to add solar and storage to a mall or office tower.
That is a signal that firms are confident enough in the economics to stand behind them. In high-cost power markets, similar systems on commercial buildings are already being used to shave demand charges, reduce exposure to late-afternoon peaks, and participate in utility programs that pay customers to reduce load.
2. Civic anchors can de-risk district electrification
As more buildings electrify heating and add EV charging, the easiest answer is often “call the utility and ask for a bigger line.” The harder reality is that many feeders and substations are already tight.
By building a grid-interactive library that can reduce stress on the local system and export energy during peaks, Manchester is turning what could have been just another load into a stabilizing asset. Eaton’s controls are designed specifically to synchronize the library’s solar, battery, and chargers with local energy markets, allowing the utility to better manage peak demand.
For nearby commercial buildings, that matters. A neighborhood with one or two large, flexible users is easier to serve than one where every new load looks like a one-way demand on the grid.
3. EV charging belongs in the base building, not as an afterthought
Instead of bolting chargers onto the project at the end, Manchester’s team folded EV infrastructure into the initial design. Eaton will use its charging partnership with ChargePoint to provide stations that are managed with the rest of the site’s power—not fighting against it.
That approach will allow the library to:
Offer public charging as a visible amenity on Main Street.
Avoid unexpected electrical upgrades when charger usage grows.
Potentially participate in future programs that treat EVs as controllable loads that can shift charging to off-peak times.
For mixed-use developers, the lesson is clear: if you know EVs are coming, design the charging and the grid connection together. Don’t wait for tenants to add stations piecemeal.
How they’re paying for it
While a sophisticated microgrid can sound like an expensive luxury for a mid-sized town, Manchester is making it work by stitching together multiple funding sources. The library itself is financed through a combination of local bonds, state community investment funds, and federal grants, reflecting broad political support for the project.
On the energy side, Eaton’s release notes that the microgrid is supported by:
Federal tax credits available for solar and storage projects.
Connecticut’s Energy Storage Solutions program, a statewide incentive backed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), the Connecticut Green Bank, and the state’s major utilities, which offers up-front and performance-based payments to commercial customers that install batteries and let them support the grid.
For private owners, that combination is increasingly familiar. Many states now offer some mix of investment incentives, demand-response payments, and resilience-focused grants for storage. Federal tax rules allow standalone commercial batteries to qualify for investment tax credits when they meet certain requirements. The difference in Manchester is that the town has treated these incentives as part of the core capital stack, not as a nice-to-have add-on.
A replicable template for campuses and districts
You do not need to be a New England town to copy this play. University campuses, hospital systems, research parks, and even large retail centers already have many of the ingredients Manchester is using:
A central anchor building or cluster.
Meaningful daytime loads.
Parking fields or roofs that can host solar.
A mix of visitors and regular users who would benefit from reliable power and EV charging.
What the Manchester library adds is a set of design choices:
Plan for all-electric, net-zero-ready performance from day one, rather than retrofitting later.
Size solar and storage together, with controls that can respond to price and grid signals.
Make EV infrastructure part of the electrical design, not an afterthought.
Use public or mission-driven buildings as early test beds so communities can see the model in action.
Local officials in Manchester describe the new library as a “beacon of sustainability, innovation, and education” and “a big investment for our community.”
It is also, whether residents think of it that way or not, a real estate deal that turns a civic asset into a flexible energy resource.
The takeaway for owners and planners
The Manchester Public Library will open with more than books and meeting rooms. It will open with its own power strategy. For developers and asset managers watching load growth from EVs, heat pumps, and data centers, the message is simple: you can do this at your properties, too.
You do not need to design the controls or size the batteries yourself, but you do need to start asking the kinds of questions Manchester asked early on:
Can this project help power the neighborhood, not just draw from it?
What incentives and utility programs can we tap if we add storage?
How do we make EV charging part of the building’s electrical “nervous system,” not a bolt-on?
As states move toward net-zero building codes and resilience requirements, early adopters will have a smoother path—and better stories to tell tenants, voters, and investors. Manchester’s microgrid library is one of the first civic examples of that future. It does not look like a substation. It looks like a place you’d take your kids on a Saturday - and that is exactly the point.
References and Further Reading
CT Insider, "Manchester library project expected to be net-zero energy ready" (Dec. 9, 2025) — https://www.ctinsider.com/journalinquirer/article/manchester-library-net-zero-energy-eaton-19954086.php
Eaton / Business Wire, "Eaton to deploy clean energy microgrid for Connecticut’s first net-zero energy public library" (Dec. 9, 2025) — https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251209355823/en/Eaton-to-deploy-clean-energy-microgrid-for-Connecticut%E2%80%99s-first-net-zero-energy-public-library
Stock Titan, "Eaton to deploy clean energy microgrid for Connecticut's first net-zero energy public library" (Dec. 9, 2025) — https://www.stocktitan.net/news/ETN/eaton-to-deploy-clean-energy-microgrid-for-connecticuts-first-net-3o8y5p1k2n7l.html
NA Clean Energy, "Eaton to Deploy Clean Energy Microgrid for Connecticut’s First Net-Zero Energy Public Library" (Dec. 9, 2025) — https://nacleanenergy.com/articles/50849/eaton-to-deploy-clean-energy-microgrid-for-connecticuts-first-net-zero-energy-public-library
Intersolar North America, "Eaton Microgrid to Power Connecticut's First Net-Zero Library" (Dec. 9, 2025) — https://www.intersolar.us/news/eaton-microgrid-to-power-connecticuts-first-net-zero-library
Connecticut House Democrats, "Manchester Delegation Secures State Funding for New Library" (Accessed Dec. 14, 2025) — https://housedems.ct.gov/Manchester/Manchester-Delegation-Secures-State-Funding-New-Library
Eversource, "Energy Storage Solutions" (Accessed Dec. 14, 2025) — https://www.eversource.com/content/residential/save-money-energy/energy-efficiency/demand-response/energy-storage-solutions
CT.gov / PURA, "Energy Storage Solutions Program" (Accessed Dec. 14, 2025) — https://portal.ct.gov/pura/electric/office-of-technical-and-regulatory-analysis/clean-energy-programs/energy-storage-solutions-program