Microgrids & Community Energy Resilience
Clean, Affordable, Reliable, Equitable, and Safe
In the face of California’s widespread power shutoffs and the rise of dirty fossil-fuel-powered back-up generators, The Climate Center has launched an initiative for equitable clean and smart microgrids to build Community Energy Resilience. The state’s century-old electric grid is failing Californians, leaving residents and businesses to face the costly and deadly impacts of public safety power shutoffs and rolling blackouts.
“Climate extremes are increasing. A modern, decentralized and flexible electricity system can meet the challenge with clean energy community microgrids, the logical next step in California’s remarkable history of energy innovation.”
– Ellie Cohen CEO, The Climate Center
The initiative will establish a decentralized power system of community microgrids built from the bottom up with clean power and storage to reduce the number of outages both planned and unplanned. This system will enable utilities to better target specific outages and to isolate local electricity generation from the larger grid. This would ensure that essential governmental, health, and other services would remain powered in communities during outages and give priority to lower-income communities.
“While it’s nice to have goals to get to 100 percent clean energy by 2045, that’s inadequate to meet the challenges that this state, and I argue this nation, faces, we’re going to have to fast-track our efforts. We’re going to have to be more aggressive in terms of meeting our goals much sooner.”
– Gov. Gavin Newsom, Governor, State of California
Through a proceeding currently underway, the California Public Utilities Commission has an immediate opportunity to meet this moment and increase access to clean, proven microgrid solutions that will enhance climate resiliency and energy reliability in an equitable way.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) should fast track efforts to adopt tariffs that effectively support the rapid development and deployment of customer-owned and community microgrids statewide.
Clean energy microgrids are the logical next step in California’s history of energy policy innovation. And California businesses are prepared to invest in microgrids to provide safe and reliable power for local communities, but they need a regulatory framework that doesn’t penalize them for doing so and supports access, choice and flexibility. New market rules for clean and smart microgrids can offer a blueprint for engaging local governments and the communities they serve in creating a clean, resilient, more affordable, and equitable electricity system. By increasing access to clean, microgrid technologies our state will be able to achieve its clean air goals and protect public health especially at a time when a worsening pandemic is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities.
What people are saying about clean microgrids
“The state must do more and faster to prevent future outages as we continue to work to transform energy generation in our state to achieve our necessary goals to combat climate change.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Governor, State of California
“Businesses, healthcare advocates and community organizations all agree that using microgrids, clean energy, fuel cells, storage and other options can provide safe, clean, reliable and locally generated energy to keep the power on during emergencies.”
Fran Pavley, Former California State Assemblymember and Senator
“We need the California Public Utilities Commission to fast-track its current microgrid rulemaking to accelerate microgrid commercialization. This means modifying fee structures, tariffs, rules and standards to send appropriate market signals so local entities can create their own clean, reliable solutions rather than waiting for investor-owned utilities like PG&E.”
Ellie Cohen, CEO, The Climate Center
“Now, more than ever, with the added specter of extreme heat waves and rolling outages, we don’t need microgrid pilot programs, we need robust microgrid deployment.”
Henry Stern, CA State Senator, 27th District
“California simply cannot accept the risk of having to live with on-again, off-again electrical power. We must build greater resiliency into the system, and we need to move beyond the 20th century back-up technology of inefficient, dirty, diesel-powered emergency generators.”
Tim Edwards, President, CAL FIRE Firefighters
Recent Videos
The Climate Center Filings
The Climate Center and Vote Solar reply comments on microgrid tariffs and commercialization, January 4, 2021
The Climate Center and Vote Solar comments on microgrid tariffs and commercialization, December 28, 2020
The Climate Center and Partners Motion for Leave to File Amicus Brief, October 30, 2020
The Climate Center and Vote Solar Reply Comments on Minimizing Emissions From Generation During Transmission Outages, October 2, 2020
The Climate Center and Partners Joint Parties Motion for Microgrid Tariff Workshops, October 1, 2020
The Climate Center and Vote Solar Comments on Minimizing Emissions from Generation During Outages, September 25, 2020
Reply Comments of Vote Solar and The Climate Center on the Track 2 Microgrid and Resiliency Strategies, August 28, 2020
The Climate Center Comments – Microgrid and Resiliency Strategies Staff Proposals, August 14, 2020
The Climate Center Comments – Following Up on Recent Microgrid Workshop, July 31, 2020
Climate Center and Vote Solar Comments on Microgrid Deployment, May 19, 2020
Climate Center Comments on Microgrids and Resiliency, January 20, 2020
Climate Center Comments on SGIP January 3, 2020
Climate Center Opening Comments on SB1339 (microgrids legislation) October 21, 2019
ACE Comments to the California Energy Commission August 22, 2019
Climate Center Comments to the California Public Utilities Commission on PG&E Safety Culture; includes ACE outline – July 22, 2019
Recent News
California is scrambling to avoid blackouts. Your refrigerator could help, LA Times, January 5, 2021
Microgrid advocates fear PUC won’t ‘go big’ on new rules, Politico, November 25, 2020
The Old Must Yield to Clean Microgrids, Advocates Say, October 27, 2020
Utilities commission must act to encourage clean energy microgrids,
P.J. Quesada, Special to CalMatters, October 12, 2020
25 Stakeholders Press California to Move Ahead with Microgrid Tariffs, Microgrid Knowledge, September 14, 2020
California’s climate and electricity crises require clean energy community microgrids, Ellie Cohen, August 29, 2020