PA Solar Center, Partners Host April 17 Webinar On How Energy Storage, Solar Energy Create Resilient Communities Featuring DEP's Report On Micrograms, Energy Storage

The Pennsylvania Solar Center, Smart Electric Power Alliance and DEP will host an April 17 webinar On How Energy Storage And Solar Energy And Create Resilient Communities from Noon to 1:15 p.m.

The webinar will feature a discussion of DEP's 2025 report on Safeguarding Pennsylvania: Resilient Micrograms In Our Communities that focuses on identifying opportunities for deploying micrograms and energy storage in Pennsylvania.

Join Mac Keller, Manager of Resiliency at SEPA, and Sarah Pinter, Energy Program Specialist at DEP, to discuss this report and to help stakeholders gain insights into how microgrids can help critical infrastructure remain operational during outages. 

They will also review how to leverage certain tools to guide decision-making and to accelerate resilience investments in our own communities or regions.

In addition, Cat Pantelas, Sr. Program Manager at the PA Solar Center, will join to guide participants through a case study that modeled a microgrid at a health center as part of the PA Solar Center's GET Solar Program.

The PA Solar Center's Amelia Eggan will also share data on the solar potential for critical infrastructure in southwestern and southeastern Pennsylvania. This data was collected by the PA SolarCorps, the PA Solar Center's volunteer mapping program.

Click Here to register and for more information.

Visit DEP’s Energy Assurance and Resiliency webpage for more information on this issue.

The Pennsylvania Solar Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit effort to raise the awareness of the benefits of solar energy in Pennsylvania. Click Here to sign up for regular updates.

Resource Links - Microgrids, Energy Storage:

-- DEP Linkedin: Power When It Matters Most: How Micrograms Are Making Pennsylvania More Resilient

-- House Energy Committee Hears How Geothermal Energy Could Meet 100% Of PA’s Electricity, Heating Needs Offering True Energy Independence And Freedom From Foreign Energy Markets Costing Pennsylvanians Billions  [PaEN] 

-- PA House Energy Committee Hears How Virtual Power Plants, Advanced Transmission Line Technologies Allow Us To Quickly Get More Out Of Our Energy Infrastructure In Less Time, Without Huge Investments Or Delays [PaEN] 

-- Senate DEP Budget Hearing: How Energy Storage Can Add Capacity To The Grid; Chesapeake Bay Cleanup [PaEN] 

-- DEP Seeks Proposals For Electric Generation, Battery Storage To Quickly Enter Service To Feed Rising Energy Demands From A.I. Data Centers, Improve Grid Reliability, Address High Energy Costs [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- House Energy Committee To Meet April 13 To Consider GeoThermal Energy, Advanced Transmission Line Technology, PA Energy Development Authority Bills; Sets April 14 Hearing On Net Metering  [PaEN] 

-- City Of Pittsburgh To Develop Solar Energy Facility On Steel Slag Disposal Area In Swisshelm Park To Cut Energy Costs By $2.6 Million At 4 Public Schools  [PaEN]

-- PA Solar Center, Partners Host April 17 Webinar On How Energy Storage, Solar Energy Create Resilient Communities Featuring DEP's Report On Micrograms, Energy Storage  [PaEN]  

-- PUC Raises Cost, Other Concerns With Proposed 222 Mile Kammer Juniata Electric Transmission Line Project Going Through 10 PA Counties [To Help Feed A.I. Data Center Demands In Eastern PA]  [PaEN]

-- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Seeks Comments On Environmental Impacts Of Proposed Constitution Natural Gas Pipeline Project Impacting Susquehanna County, PA; New York And Delaware  [PaEN]

-- EPA Moves To Weaken Rule To Reduce Methane Emissions From Oil & Gas Operations  [PaEN]

-- Powering PA Forward: Broad Coalition Forms To Champion Smart Energy Policies, Protect PA Jobs And Economic Growth [PaEN]  

-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Joins Lawsuit Over Federal Repeal Of Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- WHYY - Sophia Schmidt: PA A.I. Data Centers: How State Lawmakers Are Responding, From Electricity  And Water Use To Proposing More Tax Breaks

-- The Center Square: Non-Disclosure Agreements With Local Officials On A.I. Data Centers Spur Talk Of ‘Secret Deals’ 

-- TribLive: Duquesne Light Asks FERC To Lower PJM Price Cap From $325/MW/Day To The Current Floor Of $175/MW/Day To Save Customers $10/Month 

-- PATownHall.com Guest Essay: PA Manufacturers’ Association Opposes Caps On Price Of Electricity, Energy - Because The Competitive Market Works  [PDF of Article]

-- WHYY: Gov. Shapiro Calls PECO ‘s Proposed 12.5% Electric, 11.4% Natural Gas Increase ‘Pure Greed’

-- WESA - Rachel McDevitt: Green Group Gives Pennsylvania ‘F’ On Solar Energy Facility Permitting

-- PennLive: Pennsylvanians Could Lose Millions Used To Help People Pay Heating Bills Under President’s Proposed Budget Cuts  

-- Erie Times Guest Essay: PA Helped Build US Energy Future Once, We Need To Do It Again With More Natural Gas Power Plants - By former State Senator John Peterson [Leaving Us Vulnerable To Price Spikes, With 1,000s Of Abandoned Wells]

-- Ohio Capital Journal: More Natural Gas Generation Coming To Ohio To Feed A.I. Data Centers [But Will Not Increase Generation Diversity To Avoid Price Spikes For ‘Ordinary People’]

-- The Guardian: Oil And Natural Gas Crisis From US President’s War On Iran Worse Than 1973, 1979 And 2022 Together, Says IEA

[Posted: April 8, 2026]  PA Environment Digest