Supporting Equitable Healthcare Through Solar Energy Assessment Tools

Group Members

Ivette Castaneda , Kyle (Reeves) Erickson , Temesgen Gebreyesus , Sabrina Molina Ramos , Henry Strecker

Faculty Advisors

Christopher Costello

Clients

Collective Energy Company, LLC

Deliverables

Proposal

Final Report

Health center with solar panels on the roofs

Description

This project focuses on enhancing the operational resilience of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) by evaluating the feasibility, costs, and benefits of adopting solar energy and battery storage systems (BESS). FQHCs, which serve 32+ million low-income and marginalized patients, often face resource constraints and power disruptions that hinder their ability to provide consistent care. Enhancing their operational resilience through solar energy and BESS is critical for maintaining uninterrupted healthcare in underserved communities.

This project developed a model to support Collective Energy (CE) in prioritizing and assessing the potential for solar and BESS installations at FQHCs, using a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) approach. We developed two tools to present our results. 1) A FQHC dashboard, which helps individual clinics evaluate the financial feasibility and benefits of adopting solar and BESS; 2) the CE dashboard, which assists CE in prioritizing clinics based on both financial and social equity considerations. The dashboards incorporate key variables such as site outage risk, financial data, and social vulnerability, allowing FQHCs to assess their solar potential and the impact of power outages, while enabling CE to focus resources on clinics with the greatest need and impact.

The project’s broader significance lies in reducing FQHCs' reliance on fossil-fuel-powered backup systems, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring uninterrupted care. Additionally, by helping CE prioritizing clinics in underserved communities, the project contributes to environmental justice and healthcare equity.

Acknowledgements

UC Santa Barbara Bren School: Dr. Christopher Costello, Distinguished Professor and emLab Director; Dr. Olivier Deschenes, Affiliated Faculty; Dr. Ranjit Deshmukh, Associate Professor; Lewis White, MEDS Alumni; Wesley Martinez, MESM 2025 student; Bren School academic and administrative staff

Collective Energy: Andrew MacCalla, Co-Founder, CEO; Melissa MacCalla, Co-Founder; Danny Ettelson, Project Manager - Clean Energy Projects; Ignacio Requena