Berkeley Energy Assurance Transformation (BEAT), Advancing Clean-Energy Microgrid Communities in an Urban Context

Microgrids, when powered by on-site renewable energy, can sustain clean power for critical
facilities even when grid power fails. Through a grant awarded by the California Energy
Commission as part of its Electric Program Investment Charge program, the City of Berkeley
explored how to design a clean energy microgrid community to serve key municipal buildings
and to improve community resilience by maintaining essential city functions during a major
power outage. This final project report summarizes the City of Berkeley’s experience in
designing a replicable, clean-energy microgrid community in a dense urban area.
Berkeley’s proposed microgrid uses automated controls, on-site renewable energy, and battery
storage to minimize reliance on conventional backup diesel power. To enhance the replicability
of this project for other cities, this approach focuses on alternative financing to minimize
upfront costs, evaluates ways to quantify the resiliency value, identifies regulatory pathways
that other cities can follow, and includes a financially feasible, shovel-ready solar + storage
design as a preliminary step for building a fully connected microgrid.
In a holistic approach to microgrid development, the project brings together policy makers,
economists, engineers, and stakeholders to create a thoughtful and innovative community
resilience solution. The team conducted a series of coordinated regulatory, financial, and
technical feasibility analyses for designing a clean-energy microgrid community for key
facilities in downtown Berkeley.
Local jurisdictions are focusing their attention on energy reliability, resilience, and urban
sustainability, and this report addresses questions that many cities are trying to answer. The
report explores the process, constraints, and key lessons learned in developing the City of
Berkeley’s microgrid design and identifies opportunities for future developments to advance
the deployment of clean-energy microgrid communities.