Local governments serve a variety of functions – like providing emergency services, water supply and wastewater treatment – where a power loss could drastically impact their ability to deliver public services. An uninterrupted energy supply is essential for local governments to consider as they scope and implement energy and infrastructure upgrades in line with their strategy. Citizens within geographical boundaries managed by their local government depend on the services and facilities that these institutions provide.
In the event of a power outage, citizens rely on local governments to keep the lights and water on, communication systems running, and emergency services operational. Local governments have a fiscal and social responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of their community. They must improve resilience against energy supply interruptions, equipment failure, and water supply failures – and protect their community’s critical energy requirements during an outage to ensure the safety, well-being, and satisfaction of their constituents.
The need for energy resilience has become more urgent as the frequency and severity of natural disasters increase each year. According to our research, 50% of organizations say disruption is a top risk, and electric outages have cost the U.S. economy $150 billion annually and impacted approximately 14.2 million people.
Loss of power can have devastating consequences if a local government doesn’t have a plan for resilience to protect its core services. For example:
Every local government should have a resilience plan to keep public services and facilities running, and emergency services operational when the grid goes down. The traditional approach to back-up power is not a long-term, sustainable, or environmentally-friendly solution. Nor does it align with net zero targets. Diesel back-up engines, in particular, emit toxic emissions and are subject to air district requirements regarding air pollution. In addition, they are often unreliable and come with the financial burden of substantial maintenance.
Today’s forward-thinking local governments require new ways of thinking, with the overall goal of securing energy resilience while reducing energy costs and supporting sustainability goals. There needs to be renewed focus on state-of-the-art, clean energy technologies, data-driven solutions, and adaptive processes for reinforcing existing infrastructure and meeting critical needs. And new thinking is required regarding budget planning and project finance opportunities.
An effective resilience plan depends upon collective action, collaboration, and buy-in of key stakeholders. One of the first steps in creating an effective resilience plan is identifying the appropriate individuals who should form the resilience task force. They should have a thorough understanding of the local government’s role, challenges, and opportunities and may include such roles as the facilities manager, utility rep, or someone from the fire department. It may help to engage existing organizations that have experience working on resilience efforts or crisis management.
Understanding a facility’s energy use and operational performance is essential to determine what systems and facilities will need to remain on 24/7 for long-term power outages – otherwise known as a critical load. Determining a critical load is necessary to ensure that non-negotiable systems are prioritized, energy is not wasted powering systems that don’t need to run continuously, and specific opportunities for reducing energy consumption can be identified.
The critical load of a facility is divided into 3 tiers, and your task force should identify systems that fall within each tier:
Many local governments don’t have a clear understanding of how much energy they use daily or the profile of that usage. The amount of energy a back-up system needs to generate – to power a facility’s load per the tiered requirements outlined above – is driven by the profile of your daily energy usage. This information must be collected and analyzed to ensure that an appropriate plan and design are put into place to provide proper coverage to each load tier in the event of a long-term power outage. Efforts should be made to reduce consumption wherever possible – not just to reduce energy wastage but also to reduce carbon emissions and energy costs. Ultimately, this effort enables you to understand your energy usage patterns and reduce the energy needed to maintain critical functions during a grid outage.
Diesel generators are no longer the solution to resilience, and local governments need more intelligent and cleaner power technologies in their resilience strategy. Diesel generators can certainly play a role in a resilience plan. Still, other on-site generation and energy storage sources integrated into a bundled solution are best positioned to provide back-up power during an emergency while delivering sustainable, on-site energy that can reduce utility bills year-round.
One such integrated solution is a microgrid. Microgrids are power solutions comprised of on-site generation and energy storage sources that enable a facility to operate independently – disconnected from the grid – and act as a local miniature power grid. One prominent example is a microgrid with a solar PV array, a battery storage system, and a small back-up generator.
A microgrid enables local governments to secure energy resilience and safeguard critical operations from potential risks. This particular microgrid configuration of solar PV, battery storage, and back-up generation ensures local governments remain aligned with their sustainability and financial goals – by enabling them to generate and store renewable energy supply on-site, reduce energy and demand costs, and lower their carbon emissions.
This solution enables a local government facility to generate energy on-site while grid-connected, which reduces grid consumption and saves on energy costs. It also allows the facility to island itself from the grid in the event of a power loss and maintain its own reliable, uninterrupted supply of energy for the duration of the outage. It’s important that local governments understand their energy usage profile and tiered resilience requirements to determine what technologies to implement, how to size each technology, and the design of the overall system.
Incentives are available to encourage the adoption of various technologies, like solar and storage. These incentives can lower the upfront cost of investing in these technologies. Implementing technology that delivers benefits year-round, not just during a power outage, will provide long-term energy savings that can free up budget for local governments to invest in the services they provide to their community.
The task force should work closely with the local utility to promote grid stability. Programs should be developed to foster the implementation of renewable energy solutions and to increase understanding of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and available rebates.
But planning is just the first step. The hard part is turning plans into action and action into results.
Building resilience can be complex, and microgrids are not a simple, one-off solution. A microgrid must integrate with your infrastructure and energy assets – and be right-sized for your critical energy requirements. Local governments must think more broadly about how they use and source energy, as all components must work together to comprehensively address energy conservation, energy generation, energy monetization, and energy resilience.
Local governments can benefit by partnering with resilience experts to help them scope and implement their resilience plans in line with their energy and infrastructure goals. An energy service company (ESCO) can review task force findings and recommendations, conduct energy audits on identified critical buildings, facilitate funding, and implement all necessary infrastructure upgrades.
An ESCO, like Centrica Business Solutions, can help you navigate all available opportunities and deploy secure, flexible, and affordable on-site energy generation technologies in-line with your resilience strategy. As an integrator of sustainable energy solutions, we can help you effectively manage risks with an energy strategy that reduces your community’s exposure to grid failures, ensuring you remain aligned with your energy efficiency, security, and sustainability goals.
