Building Power in the Eye of Hurricane Ian

Source: The Weather Channel

A few months ago, long before a tropical depression that would become Hurricane Ian formed in the Caribbean, the United Methodist Committee on Relief decided to invest in resilient power solutions for their disaster response teams. In partnership with Footprint Project, a Build Power workshop was planned for this week in Lakeland, FL. Then along came Hurricane Ian.

Now, in the midst of their response efforts, the disaster teams from the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church and Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church are stepping up to provide a shining example of resiliency. This weekend, we built 2 new solar generators and trained their teams on solar/battery system deployment, operations, maintenance, and safety.

Build Power workshop participants from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church disaster team and the United Methodist Committee on Relief learn about solar panel wiring

"Even when we're coming in to respond to disaster, we're contributing to climate change every time we turn on a diesel generator," said Rev. Jenny Phillips, Senior Technical Advisor for Environmental Sustainability at the United Methodist Committee on Relief. "Now we know there's another technology we can use that's cleaner, more efficient and readily available and affordable."

Rev. Jenny Phillips, Senior Technical Advisor for Environmental Sustainability, United Methodist Committee on Relief

"The reason we wanted to integrate solar in disaster response is because we haven't had the opportunity to serve communities when they're without power," said Trish Warren, Florida Conference Disaster Response Coordinator.

Build Power workshop participants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief and the North Carolina and Florida Conferences of the United Methodist Church

While building the solar generators in parallel with an active hurricane response was a challenge, it also presented a unique opportunity to train the United Methodist teams on a real life solar disaster mission with Footprint Project, as well as immediately deploy their new system when and where it was needed most.

Setting up solar microgrid at the Port Charlotte United Methodist Church with the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church disaster team

With the help of the North Carolina disaster response team, Footprint Project set up solar microgrids to serve the communities of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, FL. The Florida Conference's solar trailer is already serving their community with Information Technology Disaster Resource Center in Fort Myers to assist with Hurricane Ian communications recovery efforts.

ITDRC setting up mobile solar WiFi trailer in Fort Myers Beach

In addition to everyone at the United Methodist Committee of Relief, we want to thank our Hurricane Ian response partners and supporters: ITDRC, SmartAid, Sunrun, BayWa r.e., and Energy Foundation.