Uniting the Central Coast for Action – in partnership with Let’s Green CA! – presented a webinar on February 8, 2022. If you missed it, you can view it here. Recordings of the other three webinars in this series are also on this channel.
| The electrical grid is subject to outages due to fires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters. But our critical facilities—communications, healthcare, emergency services, government, and more—must continue operating when the electricity stops flowing. Some California cities and counties are using clean energy and microgrids to make sure their critical facilities have the electricity they need to operate when the grid goes down. Presentations were by one of the leading experts in the field and representatives from two existing, practical, and affordable projects in our region. 1. Overview of Community Energy Hubs (Microgrids) What are microgrids, and how can they provide economic, environmental, and resilience benefits? Presenter: Craig Lewis, Founder and Executive Director of Clean Coalition. Craig has over 30 years of experience in policy, technology innovation, and renewable energy. The Clean Coalition is one of the leading organizations involved in microgrid projects throughout the state. 2. The Santa Barbara School District has embarked on a groundbreaking project to install renewable energy across its district. Some campuses will include both solar and storage, bringing both resiliency and energy savings. It is structured to provide energy savings from day 1 – along with resiliency for free. The project will include EV charging capability for students and staff, providing neighborhood benefits. Presenter: Desmond Ho, Operations and Sustainability Coordinator for the Santa Barbara School District 3. Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid will provide clean electricity to Humboldt County and be a lifeline in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency. The microgrid will support 20 electric accounts including the airport and Coast Guard station. This project will provide a test bed for the policies, tariff structures, and operating procedures necessary to integrate microgrids into California’s electric grid. Presenter: Jim Zoellick, Principal Engineer, Schatz Energy Research Center 4. Cal Poly’s Institute for Climate Leadership and Resilience trains the next generation of climate leaders. These graduate students are available to offer support to local governments.Presenter: Erin Pearse, professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. |
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