With a major medical center, a thriving port and a growing population, Houston needs energy resilience, said Angela Blanchard, chief recovery and resilience officer for the city of Houston.
Creating resilience in 12 neighborhoods
The city has a goal of creating about 12 outage-proof resilience centers, beginning with a 500-kW microgrid at the Kashmere Multi-Service Center, located in an historically African American neighborhood.
The city got a taste for power challenges in 2008 when a wind event sparked “extreme” power outages, demonstrating the need for resilient public safety and city assets, Blanchard said. “Houston has to step up its game on the resiliency front. We need to be prepared for high wind and high water, heat and flooding,” she said.
This is especially important for Houston, home to the Texas Medical Center and the largest port in the country in terms of project tonnage, she said. It’s also near the top of the supply chain for oil and gas.
Houston can’t “go down”
“No one can afford for Houston to go down,” Blanchard said.
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