Distributed Energy Storage for Health and Resilience

As climate change leads to more severe weather and related power outages, we will need to find new strategies to make communities more resilient. Power outages are especially dangerous to people who rely on powered medical equipment, such as ventilators and oxygen concentrators; people who need refrigeration for temperature-regulated medication, such as insulin; mobility-impaired residents who need elevators to safely enter and leave their homes; and heat-sensitive people who cannot withstand extreme heat or cold.

This webinar highlighted efforts to develop mobile resilient energy systems that can be transported to neighborhoods where the power is out, to support medically vulnerable and electricity-dependent residents. Presenters from Together New Orleans and Footprint Project shared their experience deploying mobile solar+storage trailers to vulnerable populations following a disaster, and discussed how these strategies can be used to support electricity-dependent populations moving forward. In addition, Clean Energy Group’s Marriele Mango discussed how CEG’s Technical Assistance Fund supports early-stage resilient power initiatives in disadvantaged communities.

Panelists:

• Imre Gyuk, US Department of Energy Office of Electricity
• Jamie Swezey, Footprint Project
• Will Heegaard, Footprint Project
• Broderick Bagert, Together New Orleans
• Asia Ognibene, Together New Orleans
• Marriele Mango, Clean Energy Group
• Todd Olinsky-Paul, Clean Energy Group / Clean Energy States Alliance (moderator)

This webinar was a presentation of the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP). ESTAP is a federal-state funding and information sharing project that aims to accelerate the deployment of electrical energy storage technologies in the U.S. ESTAP is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity, managed by Sandia National Laboratories, and administered by the Clean Energy States Alliance.