Resilient Communities, Maryland

The Resilient Communities, Maryland (RCM) project was a two-year, federally funded groundbreaking research initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Renewables Advancing Community Energy Resilience (RACER) to develop a community-centered energy resilience framework (the “Framework”) implemented across three jurisdictions in Maryland: Baltimore (urban), Montgomery County (suburban), and the Eastern Shore (rural community). The project combined an energy resilience metric with community engagement processes in an innovative, proof-of-concept framework that helps stakeholders prioritize areas for resilience against extended grid outages. Such a framework could be applied and replicated in Maryland and across communities in the U.S. This is because decisions about siting resilient energy infrastructure, including “resilience hubs” that pair solar installations with battery energy storage systems located at community-based organizations, are often made based on narrowly defined financial criteria and/or energy system impacts, without a quantitative understanding of where and how they might provide maximum value to the local community during grid power outages. Additionally, existing state and local programs, such as the Maryland Energy Administration’s (MEA) Resilient Maryland Program and the Baltimore City Community Resiliency Hub Program, provide informational resources for project predevelopment and construction, but lack a defined method for involving community input in siting decisions for such infrastructure. This project initiative aimed to address this barrier by developing a process that increased opportunities for community residents to participate in decisions about siting resilient energy infrastructure in their neighborhoods.