Valdosta disaster response after Hurricane Helene was helped by solar power. Here’s how.
Two teams of disaster response volunteers stayed at Georgia’s Camp Tygart for over a week to provide aid and relief to the town of Valdosta and surrounding communities following Hurricane Helene.
What powered their stay? A trailer that provided crucial solar energy, called a mobile solar micro-grid trailer.
“Instead of trucking in fuel over and over and over again to feed generators, the sun is there to generate power,” said Rev. Jenny Phillips, the director of environmental sustainability at the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.
The mobile solar micro-grid trailer was built by a nonprofit called The Footprint Project in October of last year, which was funded by a grant from the Ray C. Anderson foundation. The trailer is now part of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church’s disaster response team.
“(We) all have a working relationship where all of the parties involved want the same thing - for it to be used in disaster where it’s needed,” said Phillips, who is also on the board of The Footprint Project.
The mobile solar micro-grid trailer can generate 16 kilowatts of solar power and has a total battery storage capacity of 38.4 kilowatt-hours, according to a graphic from the the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.
That can provide a lot of power during an emergency: The trailer alone powered all of the lights on the campground, two large freezers and a commercial sized and residential sized refrigerator, according to Valerie Bennett, director of communications for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. .
“The quiet, clean, renewable energy fueled the heart of the camp,” said Tom Staigle, a volunteer who drove the trailer to Camp Tygart. “The solar micro-grid trailer supported the volunteers putting their skills to work in a community that needed them.”
Because of the help of the solar trailer, the traditional generators were able to power the pump for the well on the campground.
“(The trailer) also allowed for the reallocation of extremely limited fossil fuels to power a well enabling the first showers and flushing toilets in 5 days,” Staigle said.
Camp Tygart is located 18 miles northeast of Valdosta, and the volunteers based there spent their days aiding victims by clearing trees and debris, providing food, water and medicine, assisting at shelters and managing communication hubs that allowed victims to contact loved ones, according to Bennett.
The volunteers also worked at the Methodist Children’s Home, individual residences and damaged churches, according to Bennett.
The first volunteer team to set up base at Camp Tygart was around 40 members of the United Methodist Church from across the state of Georgia called the Early Response Team. A second disaster relief agency, Inspiritus, was able to set up base too.
The deployment of the trailer to Camp Tygart was the first time this trailer has been used in natural disaster relief, according to Phillips.
The mobile solar micro-grid trailer had left Camp Tygart this week and was awaiting its next deployment, “possibly after Hurricane Milton moves through,” Bennett said.
This story was originally published October 11, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
