ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A food bank hit hard by Hurricane Helene use solar-powered trailers to keep precious produce and other donations safe.
Channel 9’s climate reporter Michelle Alfini learned how North Carolina hopes renewables will help during disasters.
“The solar panels up top kind of feed into a system that is both a battery and it directs electricity in here into the AC unit,” said Kelcey Brown-Meacham, facilities technician at MANNA FoodBank in Asheville.
The design is self-sustaining, in addition to being eco-friendly.
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“We lost not only our building, but a critical part of how we keep food safe and moving across western North Carolina,” said Elizabeth Hipps, MANNA FoodBank COO.
Hipps said that as they rebuilt, they wanted to be better prepared for the next disaster.
The nonprofit Footprint Project helped design a solution.
Footprint Project is building trailers with solar and battery systems at stations across western North Carolina. The nonprofit partnered with the Land of Sky Regional Council, and organizers said they also got a $5 million grant.
“As we’re seeing these cascading climate events, we really need to get more creative with how we deliver access to electricity,” said Will Heegaard, the CEO and cofounder at Footprint Project.
The trailers are designed to offset local power used during sunny days.
The trailers go out into the community to serve as mobile electric hubs when the power is out.
“You can run a well pump, and you can run lights. You can run internet, and a refrigerator, and the things you really need in a disaster, said Jamie Trowbridge, with Footprint Project.
Trowbridge said the Footprint Project used solar and battery systems as a response to the prolonged outages during Hurricane Helene.
Now with state funding, the systems can become a proactive solution, so places, such as MANNA, can serve the communities faster and better than before.
“We can deploy this wherever the need is,” said Brown-Meacham.
The trailer systems are still under construction, but the Department of Environmental Quality aims to get dozens of them stationed in rural areas across North Carolina.