Resilient Power Project Webinar: Resilient Power in Schools, featuring Florida and New Jersey

This webinar looked at two models for providing resilient power to schools serving as public shelters, using solar+storage technology. Using federal ARRA funds, Florida has installed solar+storage systems at over 115 schools designated as public hurricane shelters, enabling these schools to self-supply electricity in the event of a natural disaster that disables the electric grid. By using a standard system design and a single installer, costs were kept to less than $90,000 per school. We also heard from the A.F. Mensah company, which is developing solar+storage resilient power systems for schools in New Jersey. These systems rely not on a government grant but instead on emerging markets for frequency regulation and other grid services, demonstrating a new model for market-based financing.

Guest speakers included Susan Schleith at the University of Central Florida’s Solar Energy Center, and John Leeds, Senior Management Analyst at the Florida Office of Energy, who discussed the Florida program’s success, lessons learned, and future initiatives. We also heard from Avital Szulc, who discussed A.F. Mensah’s model for solar+storage financing, and how these systems can capture value streams by participating in energy markets. Additional speakers Adje Mensah, Peter Mendonez, and Drew Adams were on hand to answer questions.

This free webinar was a presentation of Clean Energy Group’s Resilient Power Project. Learn more about the project, its recent reports, and past webinars at www.resilient-power.com.