Resilient Palisades Launches First Phase of Solar-Powered Microgrid

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

Locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades launched the first phase of microgrid technology to Pacific Palisades on Monday, January 24, which includes the installation of solar and storage islands.

According to Ryan Craig, co-lead of the Resilient Palisades Clean Energy Resilience team, the Palisades is one of the most underserved communities in the city from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“One obvious answer to the power problems in our sun-drenched community is a community microgrid,” according to the Resilient Palisades’ website.

Community microgrids consist of “nanogrids” distributed between households, businesses, schools and congregations with solar panels to produce electricity and batteries to store it. Once the equipment is in place, each of the nanogrids would be connected into one macrogrid, offering increased energy resiliency, reduced emissions and lower electricity bills, according to Craig.

Craig explained that a community microgrid would allow Palisadian homes and businesses to store tens of thousands of kilowatt hours of power; in the event of a blackout or natural disaster, the technology could help keep the power on for an extended period of time.

He said microgrid technology is relatively new and California is leading the way by incorporating the technology into already-built communities: the Palisades might be the first to do so in Southern California.

The first of the two-phase plan includes the installation of solar and storage islands.

Following a comprehensive process, Resilient Palisades selected and contracted with four installers for Palisadians to choose from: Suntricity, Simply Solar, Treepublic and Swell Energy.

“Each has a demonstrated track record of delivering superior equipment and service along with very competitive pricing,” Craig said to the Palisadian-Post. “In addition, all four installers have committed to providing participating Palisadians with guarantees on responsiveness, timing of installation, warranties, customer protections and enhanced monitoring of system performance.”

Last fall, the team worked to educate the community and assess levels of interest by asking residents to complete a survey. Craig said approximately 500 people expressed interest through the survey.

As the Post went to print Tuesday evening, Resilient Palisades said 33 Palisadians had signed up since the launch and the organization plans to track which neighborhoods are leading the way. Currently, the Marquez neighborhood is in the lead with 10 Palisadian households.

The second phase of this process connects the islands to the community microgrid in close coordination with LADWP. Craig said this will likely happen next year.

“We’re planning to go wide and deep to educate the community on the benefits of solar [and] storage,” Craig said to the Post. “The goal for this year is to help hundreds of additional Palisadians to install solar [and] battery storage.

“Starting in 2023, with the additional density we expect to see, we will begin working with LADWP to connect solar customers in the first microgrid. We expect to be focused on either the Alphabet Streets or the El Medio Bluffs surrounding Pali High.”

For more information, visit resilientpalisades.org/microgrid.