OAKLAND, Calif., June 27, 2024 – Power outages are on the rise nationwide as climate change brings more frequent wildfires, heat waves, and severe weather events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of California have both recently established funding to help communities create “resilience hubs” that rely on solar+battery systems to provide emergency power for residents.
A new study in the journal Risk Analysis finds that strategically placing resilience hubs throughout California could generate up to 8 GW of solar energy and lower the state’s carbon emissions by 5 million tons per year.
Located in community facilities like schools, community centers, libraries, and places of worship, resilience hubs provide power to residents for critical services such as phone charging, cool air, and powering medical devices. Because resilience hubs are permanent (compared to emergency relocation centers), they can provide year-round services to address the vulnerability of at-risk and disadvantaged populations.
“Demand for resilience hubs remains high,” says senior scientist Patrick Murphy, noting that California’s Strategic Growth Council awarded 11 grants for resilience hubs in February 2024, “but more than 100 communities requested funding. “
In their analysis, Murphy and his colleagues with the group PSE Healthy Energy (PSE) identified nearly 20,000 potential sites for solar+battery powered resilience hubs. They determined the optimal system design for everyday operation of these sites, and calculated the additional power and equipment needed during different outage scenarios. Their analysis integrated sociodemographic data to help officials focus potential policy and funding priorities on regions where solar+battery for resilience hubs is difficult or expensive, and where populations are most in need.
Among other findings, the study reports that:
“Hubs provide services year-round, not just during disasters,” says Murphy. “So they can also help build a community’s adaptive capacity – before a disaster hits.”
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About SRA
The Society for Risk Analysis is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholarly, international society that provides an open forum for all those interested in risk analysis. SRA was established in 1980. Since 1982, it has continuously published Risk Analysis: An International Journal, the leading scholarly journal in the field. For more information, visit www.sra.org .
Risk Analysis