Mitigating the Impacts of Power Shutoffs through Building–Grid Integration

Authors: Chris Richardson and Ben Silton

Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) have become a brute-force – and effective – way to mitigate the risk of wildfires for utilities in California. However, forced power outages are a last resort for a reason – not only do they create problems for utility customers, but they can represent millions of dollars in lost revenues for electric utilities…every hour!

Due to the increasing risk of wildfires and PSPS, coupled with rising electricity costs, building owners and operators are exploring technologies to help reduce reliance on the electric grid and enable off-grid operations (or “islanding”) during outage and peak-demand conditions when electricity is either unavailable or abnormally expensive.

In this article co-authored with Rocky Mountain Institute’s Edie Taylor, ADL Ventures Partner Chris Richardson and Principal Ben Silton describe ways in which utilities and building owners and operators can work together to propagate resilient buildings in the form of Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs) and microgrids, especially on the heels of the landmark legislation FERC 2222 released earlier in 2020.

We hope you enjoy the article (link repeated here) and we would love to hear any thoughts on the subject at ben@adlventures.com!