Island Community Explores Pathways To Strengthen Energy Reliability - CleanTechnica

The article discusses Edgartown, a town on Martha’s Vineyard island, and its efforts to enhance energy reliability and resilience through microgrid development. Due to the island’s isolation—accessible only by ferry or plane—power outages caused by storms like hurricanes and nor’easters pose significant challenges. To address this, Edgartown aims to create microgrids capable of independently powering municipal buildings for up to seven days during emergencies, using a combination of solar photovoltaics, battery storage, grid power, and backup generators. This initiative is driven by the Edgartown Energy Committee, which has been working since 2017 to improve energy efficiency and resilience. To support this goal, Edgartown partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy to Communities (E2C) program, which connects communities with national laboratory researchers for technical assistance. Through E2C’s Expert Match program, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory helped analyze the energy needs and generation options for the Edgartown Highway Department campus