OROVILLE, Calif. -- The American Red Cross just selected two sites in Oroville to receive solar and battery storage systems, by way of a partnership with Mission Energy.

The goal is to establish resilience centers in areas that are especially prone to natural disasters like wildfire or public safety power shutoffs. Sites across Butte and Lake counties have been identified. In Oroville, the African American Family and Cultural Center, along withOro Vista Baptist Church, were selected as two of the hubs.

"We surveyed almost 20 sites that the Red Cross has partnerships with and identified five that were the best candidates that were serving communities that had existing services already to support these communities, were capable of adding solar and storage and the interest in doing the projects," said Jeff Rauenhorst, co-chief executive officer for Mission Energy.

Mission Energy says if the energy grid goes down, centers like these will be able to stay online for the community.

"They're already serving the communities, they're already there in times of need, so this really helps support and grow their role in the community,"Rauenhorst said of the centers that were selected.

The Red Cross has provided 100% of the costs of these projects. Rauenhorst says the systems will save these hubs money over time, as well.

"We see this as a pretty critical need in communities that are subject to natural disasters to adapt and be prepared and to serve the communities that need the support the most...," he said. "These resilience centers are built to not only do the basics but some of them can provide meals to the community, short-term housing, they're designed to roll in trailers to provide showers and needs, so really they're designed to meet the various community needs in the area."

Solar panel installation at the African American Family and Cultural Center is slated to begin next week. The system will be operational the week of Nov. 4.