Solar Power Brought by Volunteers to Hurricane Helene's Disaster Zone (apnews.com) 19
Bobby Renfro spent $1,200 to buy a gas-powered electricity generator for a community resource hub he set up in a former church near hurricane-struck Asheville, North Carolina. He's spending thousands more on fuel, reports the Associated Press — though he's just one of many. Right now over 500,000 people are without power in Florida, according to the PowerOutage.us project — with more than 9,000 in Georgia, and over 17,000 in North Carolina"
Without it, they can't keep medicines cold or power medical equipment or pump well water. They can't recharge their phones or apply for federal disaster aid... Residents who can get their hands on gas and diesel-powered generators are depending on them, but that is not easy. Fuel is expensive and can be a long drive away. Generator fumes pollute and can be deadly. Small home generators are designed to run for hours or days, not weeks and months.
Now, more help is arriving. Renfro received a new power source this week, one that will be cleaner, quieter and free to operate. Volunteers with the nonprofit Footprint Project and a local solar installation company delivered a solar generator with six 245-watt solar panels, a 24-volt battery and an AC power inverter. The panels now rest on a grassy hill outside the community building. Renfro hopes his community can draw some comfort and security, "seeing and knowing that they have a little electricity." The Footprint Project is scaling up its response to this disaster with sustainable mobile infrastructure. It has deployed dozens of larger solar microgrids, solar generators and machines that can pull water from the air to 33 sites so far, along with dozens of smaller portable batteries.
With donations from solar equipment and installation companies as well as equipment purchased through donated funds, the nonprofit is sourcing hundreds more small batteries and dozens of other larger systems and even industrial-scale solar generators known as "Dragon Wings."
Now, more help is arriving. Renfro received a new power source this week, one that will be cleaner, quieter and free to operate. Volunteers with the nonprofit Footprint Project and a local solar installation company delivered a solar generator with six 245-watt solar panels, a 24-volt battery and an AC power inverter. The panels now rest on a grassy hill outside the community building. Renfro hopes his community can draw some comfort and security, "seeing and knowing that they have a little electricity." The Footprint Project is scaling up its response to this disaster with sustainable mobile infrastructure. It has deployed dozens of larger solar microgrids, solar generators and machines that can pull water from the air to 33 sites so far, along with dozens of smaller portable batteries.
With donations from solar equipment and installation companies as well as equipment purchased through donated funds, the nonprofit is sourcing hundreds more small batteries and dozens of other larger systems and even industrial-scale solar generators known as "Dragon Wings."
Better than nothing (Score:2)
The cost and availability of generators must really be an issue if the only alternative is 1.5kWh of 24VDC solar. Just enough to keep the lights on (literally).
I think itâ(TM)s a good idea, if nothing else, like the kind of thing you would find powering a bathroom on a campground. Powering water pumps and LEDs for example. There are a lot of scenarios where you need a little bit of electricity without having to feed it a constant amount of fuel.
The hyperbole about generators in the article is stupid, h
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I've lived in places without power for many months in freezing climates where there was no plumbing and, honestly, it wasn't hard if you are half-way prepared, which florida residents ought to be by now. In fact it was quite an enjoyable way of life. What do you need generators for that is critical to survival? You can charge up your phone with a tiny solar panel, you can hand-filter water if you're dumb enough to ride out a hurricane without storing any.
Re:Better than nothing (Score:4, Insightful)
This is in North Carolina. How common are hurricanes up that way? How reasonable is it to expect people up that way to be prepared for a hurricane?
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They werent prepared, because they are poor areas up there mixed with rich areas. Ironically I was looking at houses up in the mountains because of the likelihood of this happening was low. But decided not to because infrastructure was weak, which is what we are seeing now. The more remote a location from sources of water, electricity, and internet the worse it will be during a catastrophic event, not even talking about health
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According to this random website NC is the 3rd most hurricane hit state in the US. I wouldn't have guessed that, I would have thought like 12th or something. The 1st is FLA and the 2nd is Texas apperently. Why NC is hit by more hurricanes than LA? It doesn't make sense but apperently its the case. It might be that NC isn't known for hurricanes because they aren't as big as the ones that hit FLA?
https://universalproperty.com/... [universalproperty.com]
This site says its the 4th most hit
https://www.finder.com/home-in... [finder.com]
Re: Better than nothing (Score:2)
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I honestly don't know, but generators are put in the garage or the yard which are both often prone to flood, and I've seen solar panals take amazing beatings by the wind. Probably, depending on where your house is the generator fairs better sometimes and other times the solar does, If you're smart and tuck it away it will obiously be 100% reliable but my point is that you don't really need either to survive. Unless you live in an iron lung or something.
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...my point is that you don't really need either to survive. Unless you live in an iron lung or something.
I agree...and if you do have medical needs that are dependent on electricity.....you damn well better have a backup solution regardless of where you live, well in advance of any emergencies.
You still have to give solar panels fuel (Score:2, Interesting)
The fuel just happens to be the sun...which isn't much help at night, or on cloudy days.
It's an emergency situation, in a disaster area...I assure you, the people suffering aren't overly concerned about environmental considerations. That 1470W of capacity isn't going to go too far when people start using inverters to bring it up to 120v, only to rectify it to DC to charge cellphones and run laptops. (yes, I know there are efficient ways of doing that...but, do you HONESTLY think a bunch of rando's in an e
Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel (Score:4, Informative)
I'll take two MWh of sunlight to go then so I can use it at night, you idiot. What part of fuel not being available, at least not easily, small generators not being designed for continuous operation and being loud when they are working strikes you as particularly tree-hugging reasons? Face it, solar paired with some batteries is the practical solution. Do you know how woefully inefficient generators are for small loads? Trying to frame this scenario as a failure of solar is insane. Solar+battery is about the only solution that can handle this load very smoothly and efficiently. And again, the inefficiency of generators isn't an environmental concern: It means you have to get more fuel, which is already scarce. They use solar because IT WORKS.
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Many people are not smart enough to go beyond a knee-jerk reaction when they see something they do not like. The moron you answered to is a good example.
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The only number in my comment is "two MWh of sunlight to go", and I sincerely hoped that no further explanation was needed. It was a response to the asinine redefinition of fuel so that solar panels can need some, because apparently that moron feels threatened by a power source that doesn't burn stuff.
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You can buy ready made suitcases, containing a battery, several AC wall plugs and half a dozen USB ports. :)
Then you only decide how many panels you need.
You buy on Alibaba for about 1000 bucks, if there was not a trade war
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As a Canadian with relatives in a couple of southern states, I can't help but respond to your remark that, "It's the US...not Haiti."
You raise an excellent point. If some of those Red States south of the Mason-Dixon Line work long and hard for a couple of generations, they may get up to Haiti's standards of education and health care.
Misnomer in power outage reporting (Score:1)