Center for Environmental Research and Technology

GRID Alternative Inland Empire is honoring Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Research (SC-RISE) Managing Director and CE-CERT Research Faculty, Dr. Alfredo Martinez-Morales and his research team with GRID IE’s Sunshine Award for Collaboration. GRID Alternatives Inland Empire Sunshine Awards honors individuals and organizations who are advancing work that aligns with GRID’s mission and values: to help people, green our planet, and/or support individual careers and placement. Each year, GRID honors individuals and organizations who are advancing important community work in the Inland Empire Region. The Sunshine Award for Collaboration celebrates organizations who create partnerships and work together for the greater good of Inland communities. 

Over the past few years, SC-RISE has developed a strong partnership with GRID Alternatives through their work on a variety of microgrid projects that deploy, demonstrate, and validate novel and advanced technologies. Several of those projects are designed to benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities, including local Indigenous Tribes. These projects have helped communities gain access to clean renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gases emissions, achieve economic benefits, and gain energy resiliency. 

Specifically, the Chemehuevi Microgrid Project managed energy use profiles and provided uninterruptable power to the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe’s Chemehuevi Community Center (their emergency response center for the community). Chemehuevi is a remote community, which makes them extremely vulnerable to power outages and downtime maintenance. The development of the microgrid helped deliver resiliency and greater electricity reliability to critical facilities while also achieving lower electricity bills. 

Dr. Martinez-Morales offers his praise of these collaborative efforts, “The opportunity to partner with GRID and other stakeholders has been essential for taking University initiated research outside the University. This has helped to springboard technologies and services into communities that need accessible, affordable, and equitable access to technological solutions.”