Article author:
Associated Press
Rebecca Santana
Laplace, Louisiana (AP) — An enthusiastic church volunteer, Sonia St. Sill loses her treasure during an extratropical cyclone power outage. Was — her independence, she was given to her in an electric wheelchair and skillfully manipulated the bumpy sidewalks of the city.
"After Aida, I was trapped in my house," said St. Sill, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. On August 29, last year, after the storm landed, she did her best to save power in her wheelchair, going to the edge of the block or sitting on the porch.
She took another 10 days to reach all the habitable homes. There was electricity again in New Orleans. In the Broadmoor district of New Orleans, "it wasn't fun" because the lights were off and nothing was open.
Projects initiated in southeastern Louisiana are particularly vulnerable to prolonged power outages as they create more extreme weather, including warming climates and moist hurricanes. The purpose is to help people like St. Sil.
With solar panels on the roof and a battery pack to store energy, the "community lighthouse" acts as a power hub after a disaster, allowing neighbors to charge batteries and turn on phones. Allows you to store temperature-sensitive medicines.
They are sponsored by Together New Orleans, a network of nonpartisan churches and groups trying to solve community problems.
Organizer Broderick Bagart said he felt "helpless and helpless" as the city struggled to provide the basics, such as collecting trash in the aftermath of Aida. .. They realized that the local government couldn't handle everything alone.
"You can spend a lot of time saying" why they don't. " "Bajer said. "But the real question begins to realize,'Why not us?'
In addition to energy hardware, each lighthouse needs a team of volunteers to survey the area and find out who has health problems and who is. Need refrigerated medicine or rely on an electric wheelchair for transportation. People with the means can evacuate before the hurricane, but in New Orleans, one in four people is in poverty and not everyone can afford to escape. Hurricanes are also rapidly forming due to climate change, making it more likely that people will find themselves stuck in disaster areas.
Each lighthouse should be able to connect with all the vulnerable people in the neighborhood within 24 hours of the outage, Valger said.
"This is not just batteries and solar panels. There are several other batteries and solar panels made by God's hands, which we call human personality. "It has been done," said Rev. JC Richardson, a minister of the Cornerstone Joint Methodist Church, during an event announcing one of the locations.
At the pilot stage, 24 sites (16 in New Orleans, 8 elsewhere in Louisiana) are expected. With the support of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, City, Federal Funds, and other donations, they raised nearly $ 11 million out of an estimated $ 13.8 million.
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Response at Columbia University, said a system that can operate independently of the power grid (often called a microgrid) allows businesses and communities to deal with climate change. He said it was becoming more and more popular. We are trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions or secure backup power.
"We expect extreme weather, and we expect more stress on the grid," he said. It is especially important to have such a hub in a location with high levels of chronic illness. There, the outage can cause great damage. Leaving the hub turned on can reduce the number of people in the ambulance.
According to the Associated Press analysis, weather-related outages have doubled in the last two decades. Louisiana is one of three states with a 50% increase in suspension.
Rev. Neil Bernard hopes to help more with his New Wine Christian Fellowship in Laplace, a suburb of New Orleans. The church was a designated haven for the last resort of the Parish of St. John the Baptist and was hit hard during Aida.
After the hurricane, the roar of the generator was a common sound, and the parish government provided it to the church, but they were noisy and of carbon monoxide. Smoke is dangerous and can run out of fuel Damage caused by storms impedes transportation.
Fueling and maintaining the New Wine generator was a challenge after Ida. The church will now benefit all year round. Once the lighthouse is installed, Bernard expects to save $ 3,000 a month in energy bills.
Hurricanes are not the only extreme weather events that are causing interest in microgrids. According to experts, in California, power companies may pre-power lines to prevent a fire when conditions are met for a wildfire.
Ice and wind storms, and tropical climates can cause power outages in places like Baltimore, where similar projects started in 2015. There are four locations in the city with solar power and battery backup, Aubrey Jarm, a planner for the city's climate and resilience, said in an email.
"Many systems work well in the event of a power outage, allowing hubs to provide continuity of important services such as mobile phone charging, cooling, and information to residents in need of support. "Germ writes.
CrescentCare lost $ 250,000 in medicines and vaccines in the aftermath of Aida. The New Orleans-based healthcare center had two generators when the hurricane Ida struck, but one failed and the other couldn't get enough fuel to run. Said CEO Noel Twilbeck.
The center now functions as one of the first "lighthouses" in the area.
Solar panels are designed to withstand winds of 160 mph, said Pierre Moses, president of 127 Energy, which finances and develops renewable energy projects. He is also a technical consultant for the Community Lighthouse initiative.
DirectRelief, one of the donors funding the lighthouse project, was not aimed at becoming an energy provider. After a hurricane, he was repeatedly asked to pay for generators and fuel before he started funding the Microgrid.
Thomas Taige, president and chief executive officer of the Humanitarian Aid Group, said that medical records have been computerized and more people need energy-dependent devices such as dialysis machines and oxygen at home. And I recognize its value.
"You have always set things up assuming that you are powerful and that estimation is no longer valid in many places," he said.
