Clean Power Alliance has launched the new Power Ready program to support community resilience needs. Power Ready helps CPA’s partner communities make public buildings, which serve a critical community purpose, more energy-resilient by installing solar-plus-storage systems to ensure a backup source of clean energy is available when a power outage occurs. The program is a community benefit to the cities and counties that CPA serves and provides the backup power systems at no cost to them. Clean energy backup power systems are slated to be installed in 11 public buildings located throughout CPA communities by the end of 2025.
The need for backup power continues to grow as outages become more frequent with increased wildfires, public safety power shutoffs, aging infrastructure, and increased grid emergencies due to severe weather events.
Clean energy backup systems help avoid harmful greenhouse gas emissions that traditional diesel backup generators may emit – providing another tangible way to help communities meet statewide clean air goals.
“The Power Ready program was designed so Clean Power Alliance could directly support power resiliency needs in communities we serve,” said Matthew Langer, CPA’s Chief Operating Officer. “As impacts from climate change such as heat events and wildfire risk increase the chance of power outages, it’s become imperative to have clean energy backup power in public buildings that serve critical needs. It’s exciting to see this program launch and provide emergency power generation throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties.”
Facilities such as recreation centers, libraries that double as cooling centers, government complexes and a fire station will benefit from an on-site energy resiliency installation with demand-response capabilities that can meet critical power loads in the case of an outage.
In total, Power Ready’s 11 backup energy systems are expected to have 1.15 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic systems, paired with 1.17 megawatts of battery energy storage capacity collectively across the 11 facility locations.
Backup power will be allocated to meet those on-site power needs during power outages, which will enhance power resilience to prevent grid emergencies.
CPA is contracting directly with solar developer Coast Energy Consortium to build, own, and operate the systems for 20 years, with 180 new local direct construction jobs and two permanent jobs expected to be created from the project.
