Environment + Energy Leader
Summary
When San Diego Gas & Electric installed a utility-scale microgrid in 2013 in the remote desert town of Borrego Springs, it wanted to keep on the most vital services — things like fire and police, hospitals, and schools. It is part of a broader design that uses onsite generation and battery storage. Given that the town, home to 2,700 residents, has experienced extreme heat and monsoon rains, the urgency was palpable.
California is the national leader in addressing climate change and facilitating the use of renewable energies and green technologies. State law requires the deployment of microgrids, and it has set aside $200 million to assist in their development. The goals are multi-faceted but center on resiliency, economic development, and increasing the use of green energy. The San Diego utility says that Borrego Springs is teaching it to build more microgrids in high-fire threat districts across the company’s service territory.
It’s all in the context of a just-released United Nations report, which says that higher temperatures and changing land patterns are leading to more wildfires and polluted air. Climate change leads to warmer weather and more prolonged droughts that lead to more wildfires. Fifty scholars from 6 continents researched the report. It concludes that without severe mitigation, the risks of dangerous wildfires increase by 57% by the century’s end — all attributed to climate change.
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