South Louisiana communities hit hard by Hurricane Ida are now using the power of the sun in their recovery efforts. New Orleans solar company PosiGen Solar has teamed up with the Footprint Project to deploy 12 solar power stations at disaster supply sites in hurricane-damaged areas. A dozen firehouses, churches and community centers damaged or destroyed and left without power because of the storm, will now have lights, fans, refrigerators and cell phone charging stations thanks to solar power.
The 12 self-contained solar power stations include 30 solar panels that provide 11.4 kW of power, along with an inverter and dual battery pack that provides up to 27 kW of electricity.
“We are a part of the community,” says Tom Neyhart, PosiGen’s CEO. “As soon as we ensured our employees were safe, we turned our attention to helping people in these hardest-hit areas. We’ve met some really incredible people who are dealing with extremely dire situations that in some cases, could have been helped or at least the damage could have been lessened. It’s frustrating to know the work we’re doing now to power neighborhoods through microgrids, and power storage could have been done pre-storm if our state had a more holistic approach to energy.”
“PosiGen is now working to install 300 solar power batteries at homes in low-income neighborhoods so these families aren’t left in the dark again,” Neyhart continues. “Everyone deserves the right to clean, renewable energy.”
The Footprint Project has worked to bring clean energy to areas of climate disasters and humanitarian emergencies since 2017, but volunteers on the ground in Southeast Louisiana say this is their largest response operation to date.
