News and Insights

October 28, 2020

Boston, MA — A team of leading resilience experts — RAND Corporation, Converge Strategies, LLC, XENDEE Corporation, and Ridgeline Energy Analytics — will support the town of West Tisbury and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in their planning and design of climate-resilient energy infrastructure.

This community-level project is funded by the Baker-Polito Administration through the Clean Energy and Resiliency (CLEAR) program, launched by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). “Building on MassCEC’s Community Microgrids program, this program is focused on assisting communities with resilient design studies while at the same time generating a toolkit and certification for all Massachusetts’ communities to reference in the future,” said MassCEC CEO Stephen Pike. “We are excited by both the awarded communities and the technical consultants who will be leading this effort and defining how Massachusetts buildings and communities should pursue resiliency efforts moving forward.”

The CLEAR project team will leverage its mission-focused resilience approach and XENDEE’s energy resilience analysis platform to determine how the town of West Tisbury and Brigham and Women’s Hospital can strengthen their energy infrastructure against extreme weather and grid interruptions to ensure that their lifeline facilities and emergency services are positioned to serve their communities when they are most in need.

“MassCEC’s investments in the CLEAR program reflect the growing recognition among policymakers that building societal resilience has to be done from the bottom-up, one community at a time,” said Benjamin Preston, Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation. “We are quite excited about this opportunity to work collaboratively with Massachusetts communities, MassCEC, electrical utilities and a talented group of technical experts to facilitate a transition to a more resilient energy future.”

“The lifeline systems that we rely on for electricity, heat, and other critical services are under threat from extreme weather and determined adversaries. Massachusetts is looking to its technology innovators to help keep the lights on when the power goes out.” said Wilson Rickerson, Principal of Converge Strategies, LLC. “The CLEAR program will use clean energy technologies like solar and storage to support community preparedness. We are proud to be part of the team that is making that happen.”

“XENDEE’s Microgrid design and decision making platform allows our Engineers to efficiently model and optimize distributed energy systems based on the goals of a community such as lowering costs, reducing CO2 emissions, increasing resilience or a combination of all three,” said Adib Naslé, CEO of XENDEE Corporation. “With the unique resiliency needs of these two communities, XENDEE will model a solution that checks all the boxes, from increasing energy security and reliability to helping the town of West Tisbury hit its renewable energy goals, all while intelligently minimizing costs and avoiding oversizing.”

“We are thrilled to be able to provide field support for the Town of West Tisbury and Bringham and Women’s Hospital.” Said David Korn, Vice President and Co-Founder of Ridgeline Energy Analytics. As a Massachusetts-based company, we are committed to local energy efficiency and understand the importance of local communities building resilient energy infrastructure.”

West Tisbury – As an island community, West Tisbury is vulnerable to extreme weather events and the prolonged power outages that they bring. Residents of the Vineyard cannot easily evacuate during severe weather events. They must shelter in place, making it essential that the town has access to adequate services in times of emergency. Upon identifying possible risks, their most immediate focus is making the town’s buildings more resilient by adopting solar plus storage. Additionally, the island towns have a resolution of shifting to 100% Renewable Energy by 2040.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital – Brigham and Women’s Hospital is essential to address the limited redundancy and resiliency available to Primary Health Care Resources especially given recent pandemic events. The public benefit would be two-fold by making a major healthcare institution more resilient and reliable and, at the same time, potentially reduce the locally generated pollution discharges.

We congratulate the additional consultant teams who are working through the CLEAR program — GE Energy Consulting and Willdan — to analyze the cost and system design for resilient facilities within communities in Framingham and Cohasset.

For more information on the CLEAR project visit, Baker-Polito Administration Announces Funding to Ensure Climate Resilient Facilities.

MassCEC is currently soliciting Expressions of Interest from communities interested in participating in the CLEAR Program. For more information on how to apply visit, Community Clean Energy and Resiliency Program – Expression of Interest.

About the RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.

About Converge Strategies, LLC

Converge Strategies, LLC is a consulting company focused on the intersection of clean energy, resilience, and national security. We work to build partnerships between the military, private companies, and governments to accelerate resilience and security in the clean energy transformation.

About XENDEE

XENDEE develops world-class Microgrid decision support software that helps designers and investors optimize and certify the Fight-Through™ resilience and financial performance of projects with confidence. The XENDEE Microgrid platform enables a broad audience; from business decision makers to scientists, with the objective of supporting investments in Microgrids and maintaining electric power reliability when integrating sources of renewable generation.

About Ridgeline Energy Analytics

Ridgeline Energy Analytics is a consulting firm that provides energy data analysis and energy efficiency and renewable energy services to public and private clients across the United States. Ridgeline Energy Analytics is registered provider for North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) and is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and certified Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB).

About MassCEC

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is dedicated to accelerating the success of clean energy technologies, companies, and projects in the Commonwealth—while creating high-quality jobs and long-term economic growth for the people of Massachusetts. Since its inception in 2009, MassCEC has helped clean energy companies grow, supported municipal clean energy projects, and invested in residential and commercial renewable energy installations creating a robust marketplace for innovative clean technology companies and service providers. Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides chairs MassCEC’s board of directors.

Media Contact

Adair Douglas

adouglas@convergestrategies.com

202.934.3856