Solarshare: Community-Centered Energy Sharing For Energy-Resilient Urban Neighborhoods

Patent Status

Patent Pending

Brief Description

Urban neighborhoods face increasing energy vulnerability due to power grid disruptions and unequal access to renewable energy. The SolarShare framework, developed by UC Berkeley researchers, addresses this by providing a community-centered approach to enhance urban energy resilience through decentralized renewable energy networks. SolarShare facilitates optimized energy sharing networks, leading to a significant increase in renewable energy accessibility and cost reduction, while demonstrably strengthening community resilience against power disruptions, offering a highly adaptable and scalable solution superior to traditional centralized or less-optimized decentralized systems.

Suggested uses

• Urban Planning and Policy: Informing municipal and regional energy policies, zoning regulations, and incentive programs for decentralized renewable energy adoption.

• Community Energy Projects: Guiding the design and deployment of community-owned or operated solar and storage microgrids in dense neighborhoods.

• Real Estate Development: Integrating energy resilience and shared renewable energy infrastructure into new or retrofitted residential and mixed-use developments.

• Disaster Preparedness: Identifying and strengthening critical urban infrastructure for enhanced resilience during power outages and natural disasters.

Advantages

• Customized Vulnerability Assessment: Utilizes a tailored Energy Vulnerability Index (EVI) to ensure solutions are equitable and address specific local socioeconomic and energy challenges.

• Optimized for Dense Urbanity: The analytical method accurately accounts for inter-building shading, providing a more reliable assessment of solar potential in complex, dense urban morphologies than conventional methods.

• Enhanced Energy Resilience: The framework's optimized network design strengthens neighborhood-level resilience against power grid disruptions via strategically placed PV and battery storage.

• Increased Renewable Energy Access: Facilitates energy sharing, increasing access to clean energy for residents who may not be able to install individual solar systems.

• Scalable and Adaptable: Provides adaptable and scalable solutions that can be customized to different urban communities and fabrics.

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