THE STORY

Located in a high wildfire-risk region of Northern California, a community college campus was increasingly impacted by public safety power shutoff events. These extended outages disrupted campus operations, displaced students and staff, and resulted in millions of dollars in lost revenue and unreimbursed expenses. With power outage events due to wildfire risk becoming more frequent, campus leadership needed a clear understanding of how to maintain critical services and protect the college’s mission during future outages.

THE GOAL

The college sought a data-driven evaluation of its energy resiliency options. With multiple potential paths forward, including energy efficiency improvements, utility-supported grid solutions, and on-site generation, the institution needed to understand which approaches offered the greatest reliability at the lowest long-term cost. The community college partnered with Franklin Energy to identify a practical, phased strategy that would reduce outage risk, manage near-term costs, and support informed capital planning decisions.

THE SOLUTION AND RESULTS

Franklin Energy conducted a comprehensive energy resiliency study that combined on-site energy efficiency audits with generation, storage, and microgrid analysis. Working closely with campus facilities, staff, and the local utility, the team evaluated existing infrastructure, load profiles, and outage risks. The study identified energy efficiency measures such as retro-commissioning, LED lighting upgrades, chiller improvements, and controls optimization that would reduce annual energy use and overall load, lowering the size and cost of future resiliency investments.

The study also included evaluating multiple resiliency pathways, including utility interconnection options and an on-campus microgrid. Through detailed financial modeling, power flow analysis, and eight system iterations, the team designed a resilient microgrid concept combining battery storage, solar photovoltaics, and backup generation capable of providing up to three days of self-sufficiency during outages.

By delivering a comprehensive energy resiliency roadmap, Franklin Energy equipped campus leaders with the insights needed to prioritize investments, reduce future outage impacts, and protect students, faculty, and the surrounding community.