PILLAR ONE
STRATEGY

ENERGY RESILIENCE FOR LAGUNA BEACH

"Keeping Our Community Powered When the Grid Cannot"

Laguna Beach is a unique coastal community surrounded by hillsides, canyons and open space. That extraordinary setting is part of what makes our city special—but it also creates vulnerabilities.

Wildfire. Extreme weather. Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Grid failures. Rising electricity costs.

The question is no longer simply whether Laguna Beach can produce cleaner electricity.

The more important question is:

When the regional electrical grid fails—or must deliberately be shut down because wildfire danger is extreme—can Laguna Beach keep its critical infrastructure operating?

It can.

And increasingly, the technology and planning necessary to accomplish it already exist.

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FROM AN IDEA TO AN OPPORTUNITY

This concept began with a simple proposition:

Laguna Beach should be capable of producing and storing enough local energy to protect essential community services when the larger electrical grid is unavailable.

When first proposed, community-scale battery storage and local energy independence may have seemed ambitious.

Today, the conversation has changed.

Solar generation, battery energy storage and intelligent microgrid technology are increasingly being deployed throughout California. Laguna Beach itself is now evaluating microgrid resiliency at municipal facilities.

What once seemed like a reach may now represent prudent community planning.

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THE VISION

A Community Resilience Microgrid

The goal is not to disconnect Laguna Beach permanently from the electrical grid.

The goal is to make Laguna Beach less dependent upon it when dependence creates vulnerability.

A Community Resilience Microgrid combines locally generated electricity—particularly solar—with battery energy storage and intelligent controls.

During normal conditions, the system operates together with the regional electrical grid.

When the grid becomes unavailable, selected portions of the local system can disconnect—or "island"—and continue operating independently.

In normal operation:

Solar energy helps supply local electricity.

Excess energy can charge battery storage.

Stored electricity can be used during periods of high demand or high electricity prices.

The regional electrical grid remains available whenever needed.

During an emergency:

Critical facilities disconnect from the disabled grid.

Solar generation continues whenever conditions permit.

Battery systems immediately provide stored electricity.

Emergency operations continue.

When regional power is safely restored, the microgrid reconnects to the larger electrical system.

Resilience without isolation.

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POWER WHERE IT MATTERS MOST

Emergency Infrastructure Should Not Fail When the Grid Fails

An electrical outage is inconvenient.

During a major emergency, however, loss of electricity can become something much more serious.

Emergency communications, fire and police operations, cellular communications, water and wastewater systems, warning systems, shelters and other critical services depend upon electricity.

And there is an uncomfortable paradox associated with wildfire prevention:

At precisely the time wildfire conditions become most dangerous, electrical service may intentionally be shut down to reduce the possibility that electrical equipment starts a fire.

That makes independent emergency power especially important.

A Laguna Beach resilience strategy should identify and protect critical infrastructure such as:

• Emergency Operations facilities

• Fire stations

• Police and public-safety communications

• Cellular and emergency communications infrastructure

• Water and wastewater pumping systems

• Community shelters and resilience centers

• Emergency warning and information systems

• Traffic and evacuation infrastructure

• Other essential municipal services

The objective isn't necessarily to power every building in Laguna Beach indefinitely.

The first responsibility is to make certain that the systems necessary to protect people continue working when they are needed most.

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SOLAR + STORAGE

Generate It Here. Store It Here. Use It Here.

Laguna Beach receives an extraordinary natural energy resource every day: sunlight.

Solar generation can be incorporated into existing developed spaces rather than requiring significant new land.

Municipal buildings.

Parking structures and parking lots.

Schools.

Commercial buildings.

Community facilities.

Other suitable rooftops and developed properties.

Solar parking canopies offer an especially attractive opportunity—generating electricity while simultaneously providing shaded parking.

Electricity produced during daylight hours can be consumed immediately or stored in battery systems for later use.

That changes the traditional relationship between the community and electricity.

Instead of electricity always traveling into Laguna Beach from somewhere else:

Some of our electricity can be generated here, stored here and available here when we need it most.

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BATTERIES THAT WORK EVERY DAY

Emergency Infrastructure That Can Also Reduce Costs

Traditional emergency generators may remain unused for months or years, waiting for an emergency.

Battery energy storage is different.

A properly designed system can provide value every day.

It can charge when electricity is abundant or less expensive and discharge during periods of high demand and higher electricity prices.

It can absorb excess locally generated solar energy.

It can help reduce peak electrical demand.

And when the grid fails, that same infrastructure becomes emergency power.

This creates an important economic distinction:

We are not simply purchasing equipment for the next emergency.

We are investing in energy infrastructure that can work for Laguna Beach every day—and be ready when an emergency arrives.

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BUILD IT IN PHASES

Start With What Matters Most

Laguna Beach does not need to build an enormous citywide system all at once.

A more practical strategy is incremental.

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PHASE ONE — Protect Critical Emergency Infrastructure

Establish solar, battery storage and microgrid capability for emergency operations, fire, police, communications and other highest-priority facilities.

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PHASE TWO — Expand Community Resilience

Add water and wastewater infrastructure, community shelters, communications facilities and strategically located resilience centers capable of supporting residents during extended outages.

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PHASE THREE — Expand Local Generation

Develop additional solar generation on municipal buildings, parking areas, schools, commercial properties and other appropriate developed sites.

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PHASE FOUR — CONNECT THE RESOURCES

Where technically and economically practical, connect individual installations into coordinated or networked microgrids capable of sharing generation, storage and electrical resources.

PHASE FIVE — A MORE ENERGY-RESILIENT LAGUNA BEACH

Continue expanding local generation and storage as technology improves and economics permit, increasing the portion of the community that can remain operational independently during major grid disruptions.

Each phase can stand on its own.

Each phase makes Laguna Beach more resilient than it was before.

And each investment can become part of something larger.

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DESIGNED FOR TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL CHANGE

Today's most practical solution may be solar photovoltaic generation combined with battery energy storage.

Tomorrow's storage technologies may be different.

Long-duration batteries, hydrogen, vehicle-to-grid systems and technologies not yet commercially mature may eventually provide additional opportunities.

That is why Laguna Beach should not design its energy future around one particular battery chemistry or one particular manufacturer.

We should build an energy architecture capable of incorporating better technology as better technology becomes available.

The objective isn't batteries.

The objective is resilience.

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A MODEL FOR OTHER COMMUNITIES

Laguna Beach is small enough to innovate and significant enough to demonstrate what is possible.

A successful community resilience strategy could become a model for other California communities confronting the same combination of wildfire exposure, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, aging electrical infrastructure, increasing electricity demand and rising energy costs.

The lessons learned here could extend far beyond our city limits.

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THE QUESTION HAS CHANGED

Years ago, community microgrids and large-scale battery storage might reasonably have sounded experimental.

They don't anymore.

California communities, public agencies, military facilities and utilities are already demonstrating how solar generation, battery storage and microgrids can reduce electricity costs while improving reliability and emergency preparedness.

Laguna Beach itself is now exploring these technologies.

So perhaps the question is no longer:

"Is this too ambitious?"

The better question may be:

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"How resilient do we want Laguna Beach to be when the power goes out?"

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Because during the next wildfire emergency, Public Safety Power Shutoff or major grid failure, electricity will be more than a convenience.

It will be part of our emergency-response infrastructure.

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PILLAR ONE

Local Energy. Stored Energy. Emergency Energy.

A safer, more resilient Laguna Beach.