Schneider Electric and Scale Microgrid Solutions announced it will design, build and finance a microgrid for indoor farming pioneer Fifth Season. Scale Microgrid Solutions, will design, build, own, and operate the system for Fifth Season, utilizing its standardized microgrid modules. The microgrid will leverage Schneider Electric battery storage, switchgear, and advanced controls technology to deliver sustainable and dynamic energy management for Fifth Season's newest, highly autonomous vertical farm in Pittsburgh, PA. Indoor vertical farms offer vast improvements compared to traditional agriculture – using zero pesticides, 95% less water and increased footprint productivity – but there are untapped opportunities to make them more productive, sustainable and energy efficient. The Fifth Season microgrid combines distributed energy resources, including a rooftop solar array, a battery energy storage system, a natural gas generator equipped with advanced emissions control technologies, and Fifth Season's precision agriculture platform to help the company reach its goal of efficiently producing 500,000 lbs. of local produce during the new facility's first year of full operation. The microgrid is being financed by Scale Microgrid Solutions' microgrid-as-a-service business model, helping Fifth Season save capital that can be used toward additional operational investments, while also immediately benefiting from more efficient, sustainable and economic energy consumption. Commissioning of the full energy system is scheduled for mid-2020 and it will be the first site of several that are to be constructed for Fifth Season in the next three years.