When fires devastated communities on Maui in August, we watched in horror as the news traveled across the Pacific, reports growing deadlier and more devastating by the hour. Never having been to Hawai’i, we began to strategize about how we could help.
In the midst of putting out a call to microgrid partners on Maui, we received a message from a friend-of-a-friend on the ground. “Footprint Project, do you have any capabilities to get solar units to Maui?”
Over the next several weeks, we worked in partnership with community-led relief efforts and the local solar industry to deploy our largest disaster response and recovery mission to date.
What seemed like challenges at the outset would come to define a model of sustainable, locally-led response. Rather than hopping on a plane or shipping mobile units from our own fleet, we relied on Hawai’i’s robust solar microgrid industry to assemble equipment already on island and install systems where community leaders determined they were needed most.
With the help of our industry and community partners, Footprint Project has assessed 27 sites for potential microgrid deployment, deployed 18 solar + storage microgrid systems, facilitated over 500 volunteer hours, and grounded over $600,000 of in-kind and monetary donations in the affected communities.
Sites supported include Hawai’ian Home hubs, community-run relief operations in public parks, a preschool that found its way back to the ʻāina after the fire, an upcountry church providing atmospheric water generation for clean drinking water, and off-grid kalo (taro) farmers that relentlessly provide for their community. These sites continue to serve over 1,000 people each day, all without relying on fossil fuels.
Our deepest gratitude goes out to our incredible community response partners: Hawai'i Community Foundation, Maui County Council, Maui County Fire, Maui Nui Resiliency Hui, Empowered By Light, SmartAID, Direct Relief, and ITDRC.
And we absolutely could not have done this without the hard work and ingenuity of our microgrid industry partners (or as the locals say, “hammahz!”): Hawai'i Solar Energy Association, Sunrun, Greentech Renewables, Inter-Island Solar Supply, Rising Sun Solar, R&R Solar Supply, Fortress Power, Jinko Solar, Qcells, SunKing Hawai'i, Jackson Electric, Sunnova Energy, Elcco Electric, Briggs & Stratton, Sol-Ark, Sunpower, Enphase, RevoluSun, Alternate Energy, BayWa R.E., EnerSys, New Use Energy, Tesla, Maselli Electric, Schneider Electric, and LONGi.
Maui’s road to recovery is long, and we plan to continue the journey together from response through resilience. Stay tuned for more updates along the way.
