In rural Delta, Utah, a 1.75 MW solar plant was fully built but never connected, the grid upgrade needed to energize it was too costly, leaving a valuable asset idle. WATTMORE’s Intellect Operate brought it online a different way: a grid-forming battery creates a standalone power grid each morning, and the EMS matches the site’s load to available sunshine minute by minute. The result is a clean, self-sufficient daily rhythm in which ~99% of the site’s power comes from the sun, with no utility connection at all.
A solar plant that runs itself, off the grid
Clutch is a 1.75 MW solar plant built to power an off-grid Bitcoin-mining operation. Rather than wait on a costly utility interconnection, Intellect Operate pairs the array with a compact grid-forming battery and runs the entire site as a self-contained, islanded microgrid. The battery forms a stable grid each morning; the EMS then dials the controllable mining load up and down to follow the solar produced, so on-site generation does virtually all the work.
- Self-sufficient: ~14 h/day of off-grid operation on a sunny summer day
- Power reserve in hand: ~98%, typical use is just 2.6 of 120 kW
- Power kept matched: ~3 kW average gap the battery smooths out
- Solar produced (sample month): 25.8 MWh, of which 25.4 MWh was used on site
The asset
The site runs entirely off-grid at 480 V. A grid-forming battery energizes the bus, the solar array carries the load, and the mining hardware is the controllable demand that the EMS modulates to follow the sun.
- Solar PV plant: 1.75 MWac across 14 PV inverters
- Grid-forming battery: 120 kW · 3 PCS
- Battery energy: ~80 kWh LFP
- Site grid: 480 V, islanded and off-grid
- Controllable load: Bitcoin mining
- Control platform: Intellect Operate
Why this is hard: a big plant, a small battery
Drawn to scale, the grid-forming battery is only about 7% the size of the plant it holds together. It exists for the grid-forming functionality the PV inverters require to operate, not to store bulk energy.
The key insight is to make the load follow the sun. The EMS continuously raises and lowers the controllable mining load to match whatever solar is available, so the battery only ever absorbs the tiny moment-to-moment gap, an average mismatch of about 3 kW, and never bulk energy.
How Intellect Operate runs the site
Morning · black-start: form the grid
At first light the battery creates a stable standalone grid, and the solar inverters join one by one as the sun rises, 100% hands-off, every morning. The battery energizes the bus and holds it steady all day.
Daytime · real-time: match load to solar
The EMS controls the mining load up and down to track solar availability, adding capacity in stages as solar grows so demand uses the sun as it arrives. The small gap between solar and load is the battery’s only contribution.
Always · safeguard: keep the battery gentle
Because solar and load stay matched, the battery only smooths a few kW of imbalance, held near zero, well inside a 20 kW safety limit, with a large reserve.
Reflex · protection: ride through clouds
If a cloud cuts solar suddenly, a fast loop trims the load instantly, before the slow loop reacts, keeping the battery and PCS within their limits and the grid stable. The fast control loop forms the grid, balances solar against the controllable load, and protects the battery: vendor-agnostic, autonomous, no operator in the loop.
A typical day, powered by sunshine
The site forms its own grid at first light, brings the load up with the rising sun, and holds a steady plateau through midday, using almost exactly what the solar plant produces.
Solar produced vs. power used on a representative day. The power-used line sits right on top of the solar-produced line, and the battery line barely leaves zero.
- Self-sufficient: ~14 h on a typical summer day
- Solar used: ~99%, demand sits right on solar
- Battery: near 0 kW, barely working all day
The daily rhythm: the load steps up with the sun
Rather than switch the full load on at once, Intellect Operate adds mining capacity in controlled steps that follow the rising solar, so generation and need stay closely matched, and the battery only ever bridges a few kW of gap.
The stepped morning ramp on a clear day, mining capacity is brought on in steps that track the rising solar.
Day after day, it runs on its own solar
Each day the solar produced and the power used come out closely matched. On every productive day, the site runs on the solar it generates, with the battery bridging the small gap.
Solar vs. power used per day. The two bars sit nearly level every day; shorter days are simply cloudy or low-sunlight days.
- Solar produced (one-month sample): 25.8 MWh
- Used by the site: 25.4 MWh, ~99% of solar produced
- Energy source: solar, with no utility connection
Reserve in hand: the battery works gently
Rated at 120 kW, the battery handles only about 2.6 kW on average, and even on the busiest minutes it rarely passes 7 kW. That huge reserve is what lets the off-grid site ride through clouds and sudden changes without ever stressing the equipment.
How hard the battery works, battery power used vs. full 120 kW capacity. About 98% is held in reserve.
The battery is kept healthy
Charge level holds steady near 85% while operating, comfortably inside a healthy band, with no deep cycling. By keeping the charge shallow and steady, Intellect Operate protects the health and lifespan of the second-life battery: no deep cycling, no stress, day after day.
Battery charge level holding near ~85% while operating, well inside a 60 to 95% healthy band.
In summary
- Intellect Operate runs Clutch as a 100% off-grid microgrid, forming its own grid and running on solar, with no utility connection.
- ~99% of the site’s power comes from sunshine, with demand matched to solar minute by minute.
- A small 120 kW battery holds the grid together while working at just a few percent of its capacity, kept healthy at ~85%, with ~98% in reserve.
- For a first-of-its-kind deployment, this is strong validation of the EMS, and a foundation for scaling the site.
Intellect Operate is WATTMORE’s platform for energy management, power-plant control, and dispatch for solar and storage, vendor-agnostic, edge-to-cloud, and autonomous. Contact WATTMORE to discuss bringing a stranded or off-grid asset online.