After eight years of community engagement, development and advocacy, GreenRoots and its partners are thrilled to announce Chelsea’s Virtual Community Microgrid is getting underway with solar panel installation beginning at the DPW City Yard this week. This project aims to improve the sustainability and resilience of Chelsea by installing renewable energy resources like solar power, battery storage systems, and advanced energy management systems around the city. The solar panels will allow the city to reduce its reliance on traditional fossil fuel-based energy while the battery storage will provide back-up power during grid outages and sell energy to the grid during normal operation. The savings and revenue generated by these assets will pay back the cost of their installation.
GreenRoots and partners through the Resilient Urban Neighborhoods – Green Justice Coalition (RUN-GJC), a coalition of local non-profits and energy experts seeking to make the benefits of a green economy more accessible to disadvantaged communities, first launched this project in in 2016. By January 2017, Chelsea residents and GreenRoots members seeing families in Puerto Rico dealing with major power outages caused by Hurricane Maria, prioritized this project.
Additional partners working to advance this microgrid include Clean Energy Solutions Inc., an energy consulting firm specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy development, Climable, a nonprofit working to bridge the gap between scientific research and policymaking, the City of Chelsea and Peregrine Energy Group, an energy consulting firm focused on energy economics. This coalition worked together for several years to develop a comprehensive feasibility study for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center which in turn led to $1.03 million in grant funding being awarded to the City to kickstart the first phase of the project.
The Chelsea Microgrid Project promotes community ownership and oversight of energy assets and is a step towards a cleaner, more resilient, democratic, and just energy system. GreenRoots, one of only two organizations in the state squarely focused on environmental justice, is also partnering with the Chinatown Community Land Trust to bring to fruition a microgrid for that environmental justice neighborhood as well.