Webinar: Unleashing the Community Microgrid market segment, from Ann Arbor to California to Hawaii – 6 March 2025
This one-hour webinar took place on 6 March 2025 at 9 AM PST.
Unleashing the Community Microgrid market segment, from Ann Arbor to California to Hawaii
Thursday, 6 March 2025 at 9 AM PST
- Craig Lewis’ presentation slides are available in PPT and PDF format.
- Ben Schwartz’s presentation slides are available in PPT and PDF format.
- Missy Stults’ presentation slides are available in PPT and PDF format.
This webinar explored how Community Microgrids are revolutionizing energy resilience and sustainability across diverse regions, from Ann Arbor to California and Hawaii. This webinar showcased real-world examples of how communities are overcoming barriers to deploy Community Microgrid solutions that deliver unparalleled economic, environmental, and resilience benefits.
Featuring Missy Stults from the City of Ann Arbor Sustainability Division, we highlighted Ann Arbor’s groundbreaking Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) initiative and its scalable approach to community-owned, 100% renewable energy systems. Insights also included Clean Coalition-led projects in California and innovative efforts in Hawaii, providing a comprehensive look at the potential of Community Microgrids to transform energy markets.
This webinar covered:
- Real-world strategies for deploying Community Microgrids in diverse settings.
- Key policy and technical solutions to unlock the market potential of Community Microgrids.
- The broader implications of Community Microgrids for energy resilience and sustainability.
Panelists
Missy Stults, PhD
Director, Sustainability & Innovations of the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. Missy Stults works with all city operations, residents, businesses, the University of Michigan, nonprofits, and others to make Ann Arbor one of the most sustainable and equitable cities in America. Prior to joining the City, Missy worked with local governments and indigenous communities around the nation to advance their climate and sustainability goals, including during her time as the Climate Director at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and as a consultant to philanthropic organizations. Missy has a PhD in urban resilience from the University of Michigan, a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and undergraduate degrees in Marine Biology and Environmental Science from the University of New England.
Tim Hade
Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder of Scale Microgrids
Tim Hade (LEED AP) recently moved to Santa Barbara with a $100 million funding allocation to bring Solar Microgrids to the Santa Barbara region. Scale Microgrids focuses on developing sustainable distributed generation technologies to serve mission critical facilities. Prior to co-founding Scale, Tim served as the Business Development Manager for ENER-G Rudox (now Centrica Business Solutions), where he oversaw development of the company’s microgrid projects, and built the company’s performance contracting division. In 2015, Tim’s white paper “Sustainable Load Balancing: Integrating Distributed Natural Gas, Solar PV, and Energy Storage Assets” was named the 2015 Renewable Energy World Paper of the Year. Prior to joining the clean tech industry, Tim served on Active Duty as an officer in the United States Air Force. He holds a B.S. from the United States Air Force Academy and an MBA from Stanford University.
Craig Lewis
Executive Director of the Clean Coalition
Craig Lewis has over 30 years of experience in the renewables, wireless, semiconductor, and banking industries. Previously VP of Government Relations atGreenVolts, he was the first to successfully navigate a solar project through California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard solicitation process. Craig was energy policy lead on Steve Westly’s 2006 California gubernatorial campaign. His resume includes senior government relations, corporate development, and marketing positions at leading wireless, semiconductor, and banking companies such as Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Barclays Bank. Craig received an MBA and MSEE from the University of Southern California and a BSEE from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ben Schwartz
Policy Manager at the Clean Coalition
Ben represents the Clean Coalition in proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, California Air Resources Board, California Independent System Operator, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on microgrids, interconnection, net energy metering, community solar, demand flexibility, electrification, energy efficiency, a highly distributed future, and more. He uses his background in environmental studies and public policy to inform the diverse local, state, and national policy work he does at the Clean Coalition. Ben is passionate about helping humanity solve the three greatest crises that exist today: climate change, the lack of clean energy, and water scarcity. Ben also worked as a researcher and producer with the World Business Academy, where he served as producer for the New Business Paradigms podcast and as assistant producer for the Academy’s Solutions News Radio Show. Ben holds a BA in History of Public Policy and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara and has been with the Clean Coalition team since 2019.