In the face of accelerating climate change impacts – in particular the frequency and intensity of severe weather events – local energy (or distributed energy resources, DER) can play a significant role in increasing individual household, local community and systemwide resilience. This paper represents an early attempt to recognise this potential role. 

It is the principal output of an ongoing TEC project, and combines a summary of research (part 1) and the results of a DER user survey (part 2). While our contact with DER owners has convinced us of their interest in this issue and their goodwill in contributing to solutions, the onus should now be on policymakers to pursue policy and regulatory reforms that will help us to build climate- resilient local energy systems that can operate in the broader public interest and complement measures to improve resilience in the centralised energy system while preparing us for a future of increasing climatic instability.

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