Low-Income Communities are the First to Lose Power. How RMI is Helping Deploy Resilience Hubs

Low-income communities are often the first to lose power and the last to get it back.

For example, in Chicago, power outages are 83% more frequent, and the lights stay out 140% longer in poorer and minority communities compared to whiter, wealthier communities, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

That can mean that community members die because they’re not able to operate critical medical equipment during outages, said Michael Liebman, manager, RMI’s U.S. program. RMI, formerly Rocky Mountain Institute, is a nonprofit that focuses on transforming the energy system.

Lower-income communities seeing energy bills increase

In addition to grappling with outages, lower income communities are facing energy bills that are increasing at rates higher than wage increases.

“We see microgrids as a way to meet all these challenges,” Liebman said.

RMI recently led a “Microgrids for Resilient Communities” program that aimed to overcome microgrid implementation challenges. For four months, twice a month, RMI worked with a cohort that included leaders from churches, tribes, school districts and historically Black colleges and universities in Iowa, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico and Washington.

To identify who would benefit most from the program, RMI focused on communities and tribes that are eager to solve resilience challenges in locations that are vulnerable to outages, like Louisiana and the Southeast. In addition, RMI concentrated on working with organizations such as churches that would have the largest reach.

Communities want microgrids, but don’t know how to deploy them

As it was establishing its cohort, RMI heard from leaders across the country who wanted to deploy microgrids but didn’t know how to do it, Liebman said.

To help communities get projects off the ground, RMI provided advice on design, financing, grants, operations and maintenance and tax filing. In addition, the nonprofit offered direct technical analysis to help communities size their microgrids.

RMI banks on its experience to help communities

As part of its effort, RMI explained to cohort members the pros and cons of different business models and pointed out that its modeling shows that ownership is the best case from a financial perspective. But many of these communities may need to take advantage of options that don’t involve up-front investments, Liebman said.

“These cohorts are a fantastic way for us to share our experiences working on these projects–soup to nuts–and a great way for us to learn about the challenges people are going through, also a great way for folks to learn from each other,” he said.

RMI’s microgrid experience includes the RMI Islands Energy Program, which has been active in 20 Caribbean jurisdictions and has supported more than two dozen solar and microgrid projects.

For one member of RMI’s resilience hub cohort, the Sixth District African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Georgia–which aims to help 482 churches deploy clean energy and microgrids–participating in the cohort was a critical time saver, said James Gaymon, director of operations for social justice.

Shortening the timeframe for feasibility studies

“Our first feasibility study took 48 weeks,” Gaymon said. Working with RMI, AME developed a process that allowed it to create feasibility studies for five church microgrids in 21 days. The church also received feasibility funding from Georgia Interfaith Power & Light–which helps communities of faith deploy climate solutions–lowering the cost of each study to $1,400, he said.

One of the keys to getting these microgrids up and running is taking advantage of tax incentives available under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), said Liebman.

While many worry that the incentives will be eliminated under the Trump administration, Liebman pointed to a recent letter from Republicans and business leaders supporting continuation of the IRA incentives.

Taking advantage of IRA incentives

Churches and other nonprofit organizations can use provisions of the IRA to help lower the cost of projects. Under the direct pay provisions, organizations with little to no federal tax liability can benefit from clean energy tax credits through direct pay.

“Instead of getting grants from philanthropic organizations, communities can use IRA money and it will yield savings,” Liebman said.

In addition to working with churches, tribes and other communities, RMI is meeting with federal lawmakers to educate them about the benefits of microgrids, he said. Many don’t understand that the technology is improving and growing quickly while the costs are dropping. They also don’t understand that microgrids not only help during outages, but also can lower electricity bills.

One of RMI’s first resilience hub deployments–expected to be complete in 2025–is the Resilience Minneapolis Project, which is part of Xcel Energy’s integrated resource plan, and will install rooftop solar, energy storage and microgrid controls at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, the Sabathani Community Center and a resiliency hub serving multiple buildings in North Minneapolis.

Resilience hubs will help nearby communities with food, charging

According to Meredith Cowart,  senior associate for RMI’s U.S. program, other microgrid projects include:

–A resilience hub at New Bethel AME Church, an important resource for the Lithonia, Georgia community, that provides weekly meals and a mobile food pantry service. The hub will open its doors to the larger community during crises, offering a place to charge devices and offer hot and cold meals and food delivery.

–A hub at the Prospect AME church, which will offer community members a place to charge equipment, store essential medical items, supply internet access and allow for mobile charging with electric vehicles.

RMI may also provide information about local virtual power plant programs that might yield benefits to the community, she said.

Overall, the projects focus on ways to help low-income communities lower their energy costs, weather outages, deploy clean energy and offer assistance to the larger community during crises.

“We see microgrids as a way to meet many challenges,” said Liebman.