New ‘Resiliency Hub’ Dedicated at Scotland Community Recreation Center

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Recreation and the County Department of General Services’ Office of Energy and Sustainability (OES) led a ribbon-cutting event Thursday, April 20, at the Bette Carol Thompson Scotland Neighborhood Recreation Center in Potomac to celebrate the center as a new “resiliency hub.”  The resiliency hub is designed to provide a haven for the historically Black community by keeping the center powered during electrical grid outages.

The program installed a new rooftop solar system, a battery storage system, a natural gas generator and an LED lighting retrofit to the facility.

Several community benefits include: 

•  Providing space – heating or cooling – that allows people to stay cool or warm during weather emergencies.
• The ability to charge cell phones, laptops and other devices.
• The ability to refrigerate temperature-sensitive items (i.e. important medications, milk from nursing mothers, etc.).
• Helps the County advance its greenhouse gas reduction goals by providing clean, renewable energy to the center during normal day-to-day operations.

The effort to create a resiliency hub began in February 2019 when OES applied for funding from the Maryland Energy Administration Resiliency Hub Grant Program and was awarded a grant in April of that year. OES selected Scotland to be its first resiliency hub and various design phases took place over the next two years. Construction began in June 2021 before concluding last year.