Converge Strategies Service

Policy Design and Programmatic Support

Areas of Impact

Clean Energy for Critical Infrastructure

In Short

Can clean energy help your neighborhood in an emergency?

We work with communities to backup critical facilities with solar, batteries, and other advanced technologies.

Why It Matters

  • Local emergency shelters, fire stations, and healthcare centers rely heavily on fossil-fueled generators for back-up power.
  • Generators can run out of fuel or break down during longer-term power outages.
  • Solar energy and batteries can replace or supplement generators with a local, unlimited power source.

What It Is

We worked with emergency management and energy staff in the Tampa Bay Region to design new tools for siting solar energy at critical facilities.

We then worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to apply the same tools across the country as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN).

Our Impact

We designed the Clear Sky Toolkit, and worked with Florida counties to prioritize where to site solar and batteries.

We worked with cities such as Boston, MA, and Providence, RI, to assess solar and battery systems for emergency shelters that don’t have backup power.

We supported the City of Reno, NV, as it secured FEMA funding for a microgrid at its new Public Safety Center.

Our Partners

SEIN is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Office. We worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, RMI, and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, among others.

Resources

Here are the reports, articles, blogs, or any public deliverables produced because of this work.

CONTACT US