A Community-Led Microgrid for the City of Chelsea

The City of Chelsea, Massachusetts commissioned Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., Climable, Inc., Clean Energy Solutions, Inc., GreenRoots, Inc., GDT Engineering, and LSO Energy Advisors to help implement its community-led microgrid. Chelsea’s microgrid project is ground-breaking in that it (1) provides clean energy and resilience to non-contiguous critical facilities that support the community and (2) addresses equity by directly and explicitly incorporating the needs and priorities of this environmental justice city into the design of and planning for the project.

The project team is leading stakeholder engagement and providing oversight of the General Contractor’s design and engineering work. During this initial phase of the project, Chelsea will install solar and battery energy storage systems to serve City Hall, the Emergency Preparedness Building, the Police Department, and affordable multifamily housing at Janus Apartments.