Vice President, Energy Transition Bowman Consulting Group Ltd Exton, Pennsylvania, United States
Distributed energy resources are still largely limited to commercial establishments and affluent neighborhoods that can afford the upfront cost. Island-able microgrids that provide resiliency are also limited to the higher income market due to low to moderate income (LMI) households’ lack of access to capital. At 12.9% of income, the average energy burden for LMI households is the highest of all groups. One way to address high energy burdens is through energy conservation measures and on-site energy production. However, according to a national survey of multi-family affordable housing developers, technical assistance support and innovative financing options are needed to implement solar+storage projects in the LMI market. In this poster, Michael Ginsberg and Kate Ringness share insights from economic and energy modeling of the California Energy Commission funded, UC-Berkeley led EcoBlock, and how community microgrids at scale can enable LMI households to benefit financially from solar+storage systems.
