Three City of Fremont Fire Stations are benefitting from a microgrid energy demonstration project that pairs solar photovoltaic (PV) carports with large battery systems to allow the facilities to generate and store their own energy, acting like mini power plants. The project is a public-private partnership between the City of Fremont, the Fremont-based clean technology firm Gridscape Solutions (Gridscape), and the California Energy Commission (CEC). The goal of the demonstration project is to show how such microgrid energy systems can provide added resiliency to critical public facilities by “islanding” (or operating separately) from the grid in the case of an emergency; the added benefits are that the City will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions while saving significantly on utilities through solar generation and battery storage instead of drawing power from the electric grid during peak usage times. In addition, the project supports local cleantech entrepreneurship and has served as an important economic development tool.