Chelsea Project Overview

The Resilient Urban Neighborhoods Green Justice Coalition (RUN-GJC) is developing a set of clean energy community microgrids in Boston’s Chinatown and Chelsea, MA. The Chelsea Project is run in partnership by Climable, GreenRoots, and the City of Chelsea with input from various technical experts and consultants. This effort, ongoing since 2016, seeks to address weaknesses in the grid and the energy insecurity felt by vulnerable populations in this neighborhood. 

Why Chelsea?

Chelsea is one of Massachusetts' most diverse communities with more than 35 languages spoken by residents, 24% of whom live below the federal poverty level. Residents are more likely to experience disproportionately high pollution levels and face a disproportionately larger number of extreme weather-related impacts. They also have fewer green spaces and less canopy coverage meaning the air temperature is higher on average and harder to escape in public areas.

This microgrid initiative would help make the community more resilient to power outages and extreme weather while also providing meaningful employment opportunities, financial benefits through solar revenue, and energy democracy. RUN-GJC is centered around equitable, clean solutions for climate resilience. 

This microgrid consists of an array of solar panels, battery storage units, a biofuel generator, and cloud-based software. The microgrid is connected to the macrogrid but, in the event of an emergency, is able to disconnect from the grid and go into “island mode”. In island mode the microgrid relies on its solar, batteries, and generator to provide energy to a few designated buildings. This way, even if there’s a blackout, community members can still receive essential services like heating and cooling. With the rise in severity of weather events and the exposure of this community, improving resilience is essential. 

Why is the Chelsea microgrid special?

The Chelsea microgrid is a microgrid in a looser sense than the Department of Energy’s definition. The DOE describes a microgrid as “a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries that act as a single controllable entity with respect to the grid.” RUN-GJC’s microgrid does not have interconnected loads, as wiring the buildings together causes some regulatory challenges. In Massachusetts, utilities benefit from something called utility franchise law, which affords utilities the exclusive right to run transmission wires across rights-of-way, like streets. It also makes it more difficult for microgrids to be connected, which is why this microgrid is virtual and all the information is transmitted via a cloud server. 

Additionally, the microgrid doesn’t have “clearly defined electrical boundaries” either, which allows the RUN-GJC grid to expand without technical limits. The ability to add more buildings to this microgrid introduces an aspect of scalability that makes this project more replicable for other neighborhoods. The goal is to use this project as a model for future microgrid initiatives. 

Governance

The RUN-GJC microgrid for Chelsea is managed by the City of Chelsea and the incoming  Energy Board, whom the City is in the process of designating. The buildings initially considered, determined in the findings of a 2020 feasibility assessment, were the Buckley Apartment Building, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and City Hall. Currently, the microgrid team and the City have chosen to focus on City Hall, the police station, and City Yard for Phase 1. Climable worked with community members and stakeholders to ensure the voices and needs of the community were reflected in this design. These facilities were chosen for their centrality, the needs of the groups they serve, and the number of residents who could make use of the microgrid.

With help from Clean Energy Solutions, Inc., GreenRoots, and Climable, the RUN-GJC team has secured $1.5 million in grant funding for the Chelsea and Chinatown projects. This funding includes hiring a microgrid manager through GreenRoots in 2021. In another major update, the Chelsea City Council voted unanimously in June of 2023 for the microgrid project to move forward and establish an Enterprise Fund – a financial tool the Energy Board uses to allocate funding and track revenue. The next steps for the project are for the Chelsea City Council to designate the members of the Energy Board, for an Enterprise Fund governance structure to be created, and for purchasing of parts for the microgrid to commence in September.