Disaster resilience is becoming increasingly important in the face of climate change. Thankfully, solar can help increase disaster resilience for both individual businesses and the grid as a whole, providing a solution in the event of a disaster.

The GSDRC defines disaster resilience as œthe ability of individuals, communities, organizations, and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks, or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development. In short, for the country to improve its disaster resilience, it must be able to recover from natural disasters with minimal long-term consequences. In the face of climate change, disaster resilience is becoming more and more important as global warming increases surface temperatures, which increases the frequency and intensity of droughts and storms. This begs the question, what can solar power do to increase disaster resilience for your business and the grid at a time when it is most needed?

Solar storage devices, opposed to net metering, allow you to store your generated power for later use. Although net metering provides many advantages, the ability to aggregate your own electricity in the event of a power loss makes batteries and other storage technologies particularly attractive. If you are utilizing net metering and the grid goes down, you will only have power when your solar panels are producing, which means you will likely be left in the dark at night or when it is cloudy. Some customers will choose generators rather than batteries to solve this problem. However, if you are debating between installing a solar storage device and a generator, keep in mind that storing solar with batteries is much more eco-friendly, and solar powered battery backup systems offer lower maintenance requirements and a longer lifespan than generators.

The benefits of installing solar are not limited to your individual business. Solar can also help to limit strain on the grid because you will be producing your own power. This results in less overall energy consumption during an outage and quicker grid recovery. Solar plants can also help balance the grid by keeping some generating capacity in reserve. These plants can then respond to increasing demand by releasing the power they were storing back into the grid. Additionally, solar plants respond much more quickly to changes in grid output than fossil-fuel turbines, providing a nearly instant solution to power outages.

Babcock Ranch: A Case Study

Florida is still reeling from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the United States. With wind speeds over 150 mph, power was knocked out for over 2.6 million customers in the state. Around 400,000 of these homes and businesses were still without electricity by October 3, nearly a week after the hurricane hit. For this reason, it is essential to boost resilience so that the grid can continue to operate in the event of natural disasters.

Despite the fact that so many homes and businesses lost power during the storm, one town was able to survive the disaster without any of the 2,000 homes going dark. As utilities worked to restore power across the state, Babcock Ranch was able to utilize a 75 MW solar array, providing 100% of the towns electricity to avoid power outages caused by Hurricane Ian. Even though the hurricane passed directly over the town, residents were able to maintain water, electricity, and internet throughout the storm. Follow Babcock Ranchs lead and join the solar movement to play a part in increasing disaster resilience for your company and the grid as a whole.

In order to support those who were affected by Hurricane Ian, you can donate to the American Red Cross, an organization working to bring support and supplies to survivors.