WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A MORE RESILIENT FUTURE

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines a community-based approach to enhancing energy resilience in the Upper Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado, in partnership with Holy Cross Energy (HCE). Following the 2018 Lake Christine Fire, which nearly disabled power to the region, RMI led a five-month stakeholder process to identify and prioritize distributed energy solutions. The report advocates for a shift from traditional grid hardening and isolated backup generators toward integrated distributed energy resources (DERs) that provide both emergency backup ("black sky") and daily operational ("blue sky") value.

• The 2018 Lake Christine Fire in Basalt, Colorado, served as a critical catalyst for resilience planning after it disabled three of four transmission lines into Aspen, nearly causing a prolonged power outage during the peak tourist season.
• Energy resilience is increasingly critical due to the electrification of heating and mobility and a growing reliance on electricity for emergency communications, which first responders identified as a top priority to ensure 911 call functionality.
• Traditional resilience efforts have focused on grid hardening (e.g., undergrounding wires and vegetation management) and on-site diesel or natural gas generators, but these often lack environmental benefits and daily operational value.
• The report proposes a framework for 'blue sky' and 'black sky' value, where resilience investments provide daily economic or grid benefits (such as peak demand management) in addition to emergency backup capabilities.
• RMI identified five distributed resilience options for further exploration: community microgrids, a mobile generation fleet, gasoline pump resilience, bulk power supply flexibility, and end-use efficiency at critical facilities.
• A survey of gas stations in the Upper Roaring Fork Valley revealed that none of the eleven service stations had backup power in place, posing a risk to evacuation efforts since modern pumps require electricity.
• The report suggests that electric school buses could serve as a viable mobile backup power resource for schools and refuge centers due to their predictable usage and ability to store and move energy.
• To overcome financial barriers to distributed energy resources (DERs), the report recommends new business models, such as split ownership where the utility pays for grid controls and the customer finances behind-the-meter assets.
• Holy Cross Energy has introduced a DER services agreement to help customers spread the upfront costs of acquisition, installation, and maintenance over monthly utility bills.

APA

BREHM, K., DYSON, M., & GOLDFIELD, E. (2020). WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A MORE RESILIENT FUTURE. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2020/05/holy-cross-report.pdf

Chicago

BREHM, KEVIN, MARK DYSON, and EMILY GOLDFIELD. WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A MORE RESILIENT FUTURE. RMI, 2020. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2020/05/holy-cross-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=BREHM |first1=KEVIN |last2=DYSON |first2=MARK |last3=GOLDFIELD |first3=EMILY |title=WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A MORE RESILIENT FUTURE |publisher=RMI |date=May 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2020/05/holy-cross-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{brehm2020working, author = {BREHM, KEVIN and DYSON, MARK and GOLDFIELD, EMILY}, title = {{WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A MORE RESILIENT FUTURE}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2020/05/holy-cross-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }