Blue Lake Rancheria with solar arrays for their micro-grid – Blue Lake Rancheria photo
March 23, 2026
By Ramona Cornell du Houx
HUMBOLDT COUNTY, CA— From extreme drought and wildfires to sea level rise, Californians are facing unprecedented climate change impacts. Adapting to ensure public safety is met often requires local officials to come up with solutions for their communities. Microgrids are one way to help communities stabilize crucial services during climate-driven power outages and other emergency events. During times of extreme weather with high winds, and wildfires utilities have had to shut off power intermittently.
Over the past decades, Tribal Nations in California have taken the lead on microgrid development in rural areas. Humboldt County is a case in point. What these communities have achieved is inspiring and hopefully will motivate others across the state, and nation, to install similar solar powered micro-grids with battery storage systems.
Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) encourages local leaders to implement solutions that can help their communities move forward with clean energy solutions to help hold back the effects of a warming planet, and to help build local energy security solutions. Recently, EOPA was honored to host a meeting and discussion in Humboldt on microgrids.
Microgrid expert Arne Jacboson, Ph.D., Director of the Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) at Cal Poly Humboldt, kicked off the discussion. The research center has provided technical expertise for the Blue Lake Rancheria, the Redwood Coastal Energy Authority and Hoopa Valley Tribe for microgrids.
SERC Director Jacboson spoke on the need for additional micro-grids for local Tribal communities because power outages happen too frequently. The Willow Creek and Hoopa substations and their associated circuits in the Humboldt County area are frequently on the top 10 list of least reliable circuits in the state.
“During normal operation, the micro grids are connected to the regional grid where they can export power and generate revenue. During a regional grid outage, they operate in island mode and can provide resilience energy services to connected facilities,” said Arne Jacboson, Ph.D., Director of the Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Microgrids have proven to be a lifeline in rural areas prone to power outages in Humboldt County.
The Redwood Coastal Energy Authority Director Beth Burks talked about how the airport’s microgrid powered electricity for flight service and rescue operations by the Coast Guard to continue for 15 straight hours in December of 2022 when an earthquake knocked out power to 70-thousand customers.
“We’re all familiar with how important it is to keep the airport going. It’s 50,000 flights annually. We do our emergency medical transport out of there. And the Coast Guard serves 250 miles of search and rescue territory,” said Beth Burks, Director of The Redwood Coastal Energy Authority.
Heidi Moore-Guynup M.A., NCSP, Blue Lake Rancheria Director of Tribal and Government Affairs, spoke about how solar mico-grids with battery storage that now have the capacity to enable the Rancheria to act as a community center and shelter, serving emergency medical needs when grid power is lost.
“We want to be known as the safe place to go, the islands in times of despair. We are a very small rural community, but we are engaged in technological advances that can help rural America, that can help rural global energy,” said Heidi Moore-Guynup M.A., NCSP, Blue Lake Rancheria Director of Tribal and Government Affairs.
The 2017, solar-based microgrid for the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe won the DistribuTECH Project of the Year award for Distributed Energy Resources Grid Integration, and has been recognized for providing lifesaving services during wildfire-driven power shutoff events.
Additionally, the Rancheria is expanding their microgrid electrification capacities with technology that will help them identify the most pressing area in need of emergency power and supply it.
Moore-Guynup was followed by Linnea Jackson of the Hoopa Valley Tribe who discussed what they have achieved, their challenges and their micro-grid plans.
“Communities need the security of knowing their electric needs will be met not only in extreme weather conditions due to the climate crisis, but every day. It’s a tragedy that many tribal communities have been neglected and are subjected to more power outages than other communities. Microgrid technology and safe battery storage gives them the security of knowing the people they live and work with will have their electricity power needs met,“ said Benjamin Collings, EOPA Offshore Wind Director, Former Maine State Representative. ”While the future of offshore wind energy being built out in the Humboldt County region is inevitable, it will take years before any electricity is generated. Microgrids are a practical option for the present for these and other rural communities across the nation and will continue to be necessary to supplement larger, future energy projects.”
