Marshall Heights gets energy plan through March 2028

Marshall Heights in Ward 7 will be the focus of a city-funded energy planning project through March 2028, after DOEE awarded funding Wednesday to the National Housing Trust.

The project matters to residents because it targets home and business energy costs, indoor air quality and power resilience, with community workshops planned for early 2027.

The Marshall Heights Electrification and Resilience Planning Project will be led by the National Housing Trust with Steven Winter Associates, Amidus Consulting and Interfaith Power and Light – DC.MD.NoVA. The team will coordinate with Marshall Heights leadership, residents, faith leaders and other local stakeholders.

The planning work will study neighborhood-scale building electrification, meaning a coordinated shift toward electric building systems, along with clean-energy technologies and tools that can help manage demand on the power grid. DOEE said the project will identify near-term steps to make energy more affordable for homes and businesses.

“Our goal is to show what is possible when a whole neighborhood works together: lower energy bills, safer homes during extreme heat, and improved indoor air quality,” said Priya Jayachandran, chief executive of the National Housing Trust.

For Marshall Heights residents, the local question is practical: which upgrades fit the neighborhood’s housing stock, who benefits, and how programs can be coordinated without putting costs beyond reach. The award funds planning rather than a named construction package.

The project builds on the District’s wider effort to reduce building energy use and expand electrification. DOEE described the Marshall Heights work as a pilot planning effort, not a citywide rollout.

“This pilot planning effort will enable us to better coordinate energy programs and think critically about the future of energy systems in the District,” said Richard Jackson, director of the Department of Energy and Environment. “We look forward to working with NHT, its partners, and the Marshall Heights community to accelerate affordable and resilient energy solutions in Ward 7.”

The team is expected to examine energy efficiency work, distributed energy resources and grid-optimizing technologies. Distributed energy resources are smaller power or storage systems closer to users, while grid-optimizing technologies are designed to help match electricity use with available supply.

The public input process will shape the technical plan. The National Housing Trust and its partners are set to meet with Marshall Heights civic and faith leaders first, then bring the discussion to residents and other stakeholders.

In the coming weeks, the checkable milestone is whether the National Housing Trust and its partners begin outreach with Marshall Heights civic and faith leaders to gather feedback on project goals and introduce the effort.

In early 2027, residents should look for the planned series of community workshops. Those sessions are intended to collect priorities and concerns about energy affordability, health and safety, and climate resilience.

By March 2028, the project timeline calls for completion of the planning period. The observable result will be whether the team has produced a coordinated plan for neighborhood-scale energy interventions in Marshall Heights.