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Council reviews community microgrid options; staff to explore sites with Peninsula Clean Energy
Summary
Public works presented a preliminary overview of state microgrid incentives and asked the council for direction on potential Half Moon Bay sites; staff will continue technical conversations with Peninsula Clean Energy and PG&E ahead of a competitive December application window.
Public works director and city engineer Miles Bozorginia presented an informational overview of community microgrids and a state incentive program (Microgrid Incentive Program, MIP) administered by PG&E and overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission. The council received the report and discussed candidate locations and next steps.
Bozorginia defined a community microgrid as "Essentially, it's a locally controlled system for energy, energy system," and explained key technical concepts including front-of-meter installations, islanding during outages, and minimum duration expectations for resiliency. He told the council the MIP program offers multiple incentive buckets statewide with a total program of roughly $200 million and that larger projects can seek up to multi‑million-dollar incentives; smaller pots are available for interconnection upgrades and application support.
Staff outlined three candidate approaches for a Half Moon Bay microgrid application: (1) a downtown microgrid that clusters multiple critical facilities and therefore scores well under CPUC criteria; (2) a south‑end neighborhood focus (Kenyatta Cove, Ocean Colony, Moonridge) where outage frequency and duration are higher but the number of critical facilities is lower; and (3) a project centered on the Sewer Authority Midcoast wastewater treatment plant, which is a single critical facility with high resilience needs but fewer co‑located critical customers to boost competitiveness under the program’s scoring rules.
Council discussion emphasized tradeoffs between “greatest need” and “most competitive” for a state grant: downtown scores highly on the grant rubric because of facility concentration, while the south end has greater outage need but may score lower. Several councilmembers suggested staff continue technical work with Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) and PG&E to determine feeder topology, interconnection costs, and whether nearby facilities (for example, the high school or traffic signals) could be included in applications to improve competitiveness. Public commenters with technical experience recommended careful siting (batteries and water exposure) and urged the city to clarify operational ownership and O&M responsibilities before pursuing a bid.
Ending: staff will follow up with Peninsula Clean Energy and PG&E to refine potential site lists, consider feeder boundaries, and return to council with a recommended site or approach before the application deadline.
