North Bay Community Resilience Initiative (NBCRI)

Building back right

The North Bay Community Resilience Initiative (NBCRI) was developed in response to the devastating, deadly wildfires of 2017 and 2018 in the North Bay region of California’s San Francisco Bay Area.

The wildfires that swept through the North Bay in October 2017 across Sonoma, Napa, and other Northern California counties charred 210,000 acres, destroyed 8,900 structures, forced over 90,000 people to evacuate from their homes, and killed at least 44 people. This was one of the most destructive and costly group of wildfires in California history.

There is a strong desire in this community to build back right — to create a more robust and resilient energy system, and to lower the environmental impacts of housing and transportation, all while maximizing clean local energy use with solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. We have the opportunity to rebuild the community from the ground up, while lowering the area’s environmental impacts, creating regional economic benefit, and helping to protect residents during future disasters.

Download a 2-page overview of the North Bay Community Resilience Initiative (PDF)

NBCRI objectives

The NBRCI aims to develop and promote community resilience, with the following specific goals:

• Track and publicize leading programs for energy efficiency, renewable energy, electrification, and resilience.
• Facilitate the development of model structures and streamline the permitting thereof.
• Stage multiple Community Microgrids to provide the region unparalleled economic, environmental, and resilience benefits.

Positioned for success

The conditions for the North Bay Community Resilience Initiative are ideal for success. The project will be located in the global capital of technological innovation, the San Francisco Bay Area. California policymakers have established nation-leading goals and frameworks for the transition to renewable energy and carbon-free transportation. PG&E, the collaborating energy company, strives to safely and reliably deliver affordable and clean energy to its customers while building the energy network of tomorrow, and has collaborated with the Clean Coalition on multiple relevant local energy initiatives.

Utility and CCA support

The local energy company, PG&E, is in full support of the North Bay Community Resilience Initiative, including the rebuild program for homes, the Community Microgrid, and the grid modernization effort. The initiative also has support from Sonoma Clean Power and MCE, the community choice aggregators (CCAs) in the area.

The Clean Coalition is working closely with PG&E, Sonoma Clean Power, MCE, and multiple leaders in the community, including the Rebuild Northbay Foundation, to analyze the best locations for the North Bay Community Resilience Initiative projects. Please check back for updates.

Potential project types

The North Bay Community Resilience Initiative will combine the optimal solar siting opportunity of commercial and industrial sites with the opportunities of homes and apartment buildings. A target of 30 MW of solar PV could include these types of sites (click below to enlarge image):

Economic and environmental impact

A Clean Coalition analysis demonstrates that installing 30 MW of local solar PV on the built environment in suburban communities will produce these benefits over 20 years: