California selects Scale to Build Microgrid for Santa Barbara City College Emergency Hub
On-site power developer Scale will build a microgrid for Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) in southern California.
The project for SBCC’s future Community Resiliency Hub is largely funded by a $4.2 million grant from the California Energy Commission through the Community Energy Reliability and Resilience Investment (CWERRI) program.
Scale expects to complete the microgrid by the end of 2027.
The campus microgrid being developed by New Jersey-based Scale will integrate solar panels, battery storage and EV charging infrastructure. Previously known as Scale Microgrid Solutions, the company has built numerous on-site power projects for tribes, communities and companies throughout California.
“Santa Barbara faces unique grid reliability challenges and vulnerabilities that make local resilience solutions such as solar, battery storage, and microgrids a critical need for communities in the area,” Shea Hughes, vice president of business development at Scale, said in a statement.
The regional grid within and surrounding Santa Barbara County is prone to outages longer in duration and frequency than most of the Southern California Edison utility system. According to reports, the local grid relies on a single transmission line crossing 40 miles of terrain prone to wildfires, earthquakes and landslides.
The “islandable” microgrid will give the campus and nearby community a place to gather, receive supplies, charge electronics and access medical treatment during emergency periods. SBCC already has a disaster relief agreement in place with the American Red Cross.
In addition to its emergency services during islandable events, which allow the microgrid to operate separately from the grid, the SBCC microgrid also accentuates its value to the campus by delivering grid services during “blue sky” operations. The batteries can store solar energy during the day and discharge it during high demand and higher rate periods, helping reduce electricity costs on campus.
Sixty miles away, Mt. San Antonio College recently signed a $49 million energy services contract with engineering and development firm Willdan. Willdan will install the distributed energy project to include solar, battery storage and EV charges also. The DERs eventually could be connected and controlled within a microgrid system, according to the report.
Scale is among the microgrid industry’s biggest installed development firms with more than 250 MW of microgrid and community solar projects either in operation or construction.
Formed six years ago through initial funding from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, Scale was acquired by global investor EQT in a deal announced January 2025.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 18 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 36-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.