Solar Power World

  • Home
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Solar+Storage
  • Articles
    • Most Recent Posts
    • News
      • Latest News Items
      • Solar tariffs
      • COVID-19 News
    • Featured
      • Latest Feature Stories
      • Contractors Corner
      • Installation Practices
      • Trends in Solar
      • Folsom Labs Solar Boot-Up
      • The Solar Explorer
  • Products
    • 2020 Top Products
    • Batteries and Storage
    • Inverters
      • Manufacturing Locations
    • Racking and Mounting
    • Software
    • Solar Panels
      • Manufacturing Locations
  • Leadership
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2019 Winners
    • 2018 Winners
  • Subscribe
  • Resources
    • About SPW
    • Digital Issues
    • Event Coverage
    • Podcasts
    • Product Databases
      • Solar Inverter Models
      • Solar Panel Models
      • Solar Racking Models
      • Battery Storage Models
    • Product Manufacturing Locations
      • Global Inverter Manufacturing Locations
      • Global Solar Panel Manufacturing Locations
    • Suppliers
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers
  • COVID-19 NEWS

California community hit by wildfires moves to set up community microgrid

By Kelly Pickerel | March 4, 2019

Share

The Clean Coalition and the World Business Academy are pleased to announce that the Montecito Fire Protection District Board of Directors unanimously authorized Fire Chief Chip Hickman to draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to proceed with Community Microgrid efforts for the Fire Protection District headquarters and fire stations in Santa Barbara County, California.

This Community Microgrid represents the first building block in the Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative, which will bring renewables-driven resilience to Montecito — allowing critical facilities like fire stations, emergency shelters and critical water and communications infrastructure to remain online indefinitely, even during extended grid outages.

A Community Microgrid is a new approach for designing and operating the electric grid, based on local renewables and other distributed energy resources (DER) like energy storage and demand response. Although linked to the main electric grid, during a power outage a Community Microgrid can isolate from the broader grid and provide indefinite renewables-driven backup power.

The Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative aims to build multiple Community Microgrids in the area, ensuring the continuous operation of critical and priority facilities in the event of future disasters — as well as providing ongoing energy resilience to a broader Santa Barbara region that is served by a single, and highly vulnerable, connection to the high-voltage transmission system, via the Goleta Substation at the top of Glen Annie Road in Goleta.

“We are excited to explore renewable energy opportunities through a Community Microgrid approach that will make the Montecito Fire Department and the community more resilient,” said Fire Chief Chip Hickman. “The Fire Department is all too familiar with the dangers posed by extreme weather events like the Thomas Fire and the subsequent debris flow. This modern energy system will enable us to better serve the Montecito community, as well as provide much-needed redundancy to our essential service.”

“The Montecito Fire Protection District Board’s unanimous approval of drafting an agreement for a Community Microgrid is a major milestone in moving this Initiative forward,” said Craig Lewis, Executive Director of the Clean Coalition. “In casting a vote to move forward, the Board has demonstrated a keen understanding of the unparalleled economic, environmental, and resilience benefits that a Community Microgrid will bring to Montecito.”

The Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative is led by a Steering Committee comprised of dedicated leaders from throughout Montecito, which Judi Weisbart, VP of Community Relations for the World Business Academy, has helped to assemble. Members of the Steering Committee include Diane Boss, Sharon Byrne, Tom Dain, Cindy Feinberg, Julianna Friedman, Berna Kieler, Lee Lysne, Sara Miller McCune, Cheryl Tomchin, and Mike Weissman.

“I’m thrilled that the Fire Protection District Board of Directors has conceptually accepted the proposed microgrid design to make their headquarters more energy resilient in the face of extreme weather events,” said Sharon Byrne, Steering Committee member and Executive Director of the Montecito Association. “We hope that other critical facilities will adopt this idea and establish Montecito as the first energy-resilient community in Santa Barbara County.”

Supporting the Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative is the Kind World Foundation, which created a generous matching grant of $150,000 for the Initiative. In February, the Zegar Family Foundation made a generous donation toward this matching grant, bringing the Initiative within sight of its initial $300,000 fundraising goal. This funding will support the staging of Community Microgrids in Montecito’s Upper Village, which includes aligning stakeholders, performing engineering and economic analyses, and identifying investors to leverage the tax credits that are available to the parties that will own the Community Microgrid assets and sell energy to the sites via power purchase agreements (PPAs). These funds have positioned the Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative for success in bringing economic, environmental, and resilience benefits to Montecito.

News item from Clean Coalition

About The Author

Kelly Pickerel

Kelly Pickerel is editor in chief of Solar Power World.

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

Related Articles Read More >

President Biden plans to re-enter Paris Climate Agreement
Freedom Forever becomes “Platinum Elite” solar + storage partner of Sunrun
2 EDF Renewables utility-scale solar farms begin operation in California
Tesla releases standalone solar inverter

Stay Informed With Great Solar Power Content

Videos Podcasts Webinars Whitepapers

SPW Digital Editions

Solar Power World Digital EditionBrowse the current issue and archived issues of Solar Power World in an easy-to-use, high-quality format. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading solar construction magazine today.

Solar Policy Snapshot

Solar policy differs across state lines and regions. Click to see our monthly roundup of recent legislation and research throughout the country.

Read More >

Popular Posts See More >

Solar investment tax credit extended at 26% for two additional years
Think before trashing: The second-hand solar market is booming
The winners and losers in U.S. solar manufacturing in 2020
The changing state of retiring solar panels
Tweets by @SolarPowerWorld
Solar Power World
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Solar Articles
  • Top Products
  • Leadership
  • WTWH Media
  • About/Contact Us
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Windpower Engineering & Development

Copyright © 2021 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Solar Power World

  • Home
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Solar+Storage
  • Articles
    • Most Recent Posts
    • News
      • Latest News Items
      • Solar tariffs
      • COVID-19 News
    • Featured
      • Latest Feature Stories
      • Contractors Corner
      • Installation Practices
      • Trends in Solar
      • Folsom Labs Solar Boot-Up
      • The Solar Explorer
  • Products
    • 2020 Top Products
    • Batteries and Storage
    • Inverters
      • Manufacturing Locations
    • Racking and Mounting
    • Software
    • Solar Panels
      • Manufacturing Locations
  • Leadership
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2019 Winners
    • 2018 Winners
  • Subscribe
  • Resources
    • About SPW
    • Digital Issues
    • Event Coverage
    • Podcasts
    • Product Databases
      • Solar Inverter Models
      • Solar Panel Models
      • Solar Racking Models
      • Battery Storage Models
    • Product Manufacturing Locations
      • Global Inverter Manufacturing Locations
      • Global Solar Panel Manufacturing Locations
    • Suppliers
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers
  • COVID-19 NEWS