Archive for category: Resilient Power Project

Wildfire and hurricane season is here and with it comes an influx of weather-related power outages. The health implications of power outages this summer are further compounded this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we look forward to an uncertain future with COVID-19 and energy security, it is important to develop new solutions that will put resilient solar and storage within reach for everyone, including those most vulnerable to power outages and the health impacts that could result from them.

As we evaluate and re-evaluate the undoubtedly substantial and lasting impacts COVID-19 will have on our work and the work of our partners across the country moving forward, it is more evident than ever that resilient power is a critical component to improving health outcomes in the event of a crisis like the world is currently experiencing.

Are batteries the next must-have gadget for your home? A new housing development in Utah may serve as a model for how to make this prediction a reality.

In Oregon, resilient power is increasingly being recognized as an emergency preparedness and mitigation tool as state leaders and emergency managers prepare for the next Cascadia event, an anticipated magnitude 9.0 earthquake to occur along the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault line which stretches from Canada’s Vancouver Island to Northern California.

Recognizing the devastating impact of power outages on historically underserved communities, The Kresge Foundation and Clean Energy Group began a collaborative process to discuss the need for a comprehensive financing strategy to bring solar+storage systems to affordable housing and critical community facilities in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

Battery storage has become a key resilience technology in California, reflected in a major policy shift on the use of state incentives.

If you live in New Orleans, you know how often the electricity goes out. Advisers hired by the New Orleans City Council found that, between June 2016 and May 2017, there were a total of 2,599 outages and roughly half lasted two hours or more.

Energy storage capacity installed this year is expected to top 600 megawatts, more than double the amount of storage deployments in 2018, and annual deployment numbers are forecast to increase another sevenfold over the next five years. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of these storage installations have been developed to the benefit of underserved populations most in need of the economic and resiliency benefits that storage can provide.

The devastating California wildfires and related power outages are already leading to new approaches to energy resiliency that rely on battery storage technologies. This past week, a new model has emerged to accelerate the adoption of solar and storage systems for resilient power.