Photo: HSEO Clean Energy Wayfinders outreach program. Retrieved from hawaii.edu
For island and remote communities in the U.S., developing resilient electricity infrastructure and energy systems can be fraught with challenges. In Hawaiʻi, the University ofHawaiʻiSea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) was awarded $400,000 to collaborate with the HawaiʻiState Energy Office (HSEO) to inform the state’s energy future. The project team will work to build trusted, long-term relationships with the remote communities most impacted by energy grid fragility and in need of multiple options for making the energy transition.
“Our team aims to help communities approach renewable energy in the overall context of hazard and emergency preparedness, rather than as a stand-alone issue. We are looking forward to building on existing outreach programs to further build individual community resilience,” said Amy Wirts, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant’s coastal lands program coordinator and one of the project leads on the grant.
NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program (Sea Grant), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office, is supporting projects in Alaska, Guam and Hawaiʻi that will examine how adoption of ocean renewable energy could support sustainable energy systems. Nationwide, Sea Grant and DOE recommended three projects for a total of $800,000 to conduct community engagement activities that will help illuminate community values, perceptions and cultural contexts around energy innovation and resilience.