Study: Downtown La Crosse microgrids technically feasible; campus-scale systems offer strongest resilience value

Slipstream presented a downtown La Crosse microgrid feasibility and resilience study to the Climate Action Plan Steering Committee, concluding that microgrids are technically feasible across the downtown campus sites and that campus-scale systems deliver the most compelling resilience value.

The analysis examined City Hall, the public library, the law enforcement center, the county administration building, the Health and Human Services building and several Western Technical College buildings. "Microgrids are best understood as a resilient strategy by allowing critical facilities to maintain power during outages," said Adrian, an engineer with Slipstream, explaining the project's focus on protecting public safety, health and human services operations.

Why it matters: the downtown sites support emergency operations and community services; keeping power to them during outages maintains public-safety functions, access to information and sheltering capacity.…