Solar Power for Hurricane Katrina

As I am writing this, helicopters flying overhead are an audible reminder of the catastrophic event that hit us last week.   Even living in South Louisiana where hurricanes are a way of life for us, some people prepare for them and some people don’t.  I have always been one of those that have.  In fact I was much better prepared this time than in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew left our family without power for seven days.  I did not want to leave my home just for lack of power nor did I want to do without the basics again.  Even though I vowed to never be caught so unprepared again procrastination got the best of me for the next seven years.

By 1999 I purchased and installed 480 watts of solar panels, a two kilowatt inverter and batteries that could run lights, fans, a TV and a high efficiency refrigerator.  I mounted my solar panels on a pole in the back yard so the neighbors wouldn’t be bothered with them.  With solar power I could “camp” in my own home if we lost power instead of leaving.  As a bonus I planned on saving money on my electric bill every month and help the environment. 

As the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico I switched my system over from solar charging to grid charging to make sure the batteries were topped off.  I added four large Rolls batteries to my existing sixteen battery bank at the last minute.  It’s not normally best to mix batteries but I knew I would need all the power I could store for this storm.

Katrina hit us early in the morning and Baton Rouge could feel the strength of the feeder bands even though we were one hundred twenty miles away from the center.  Pine cones were slamming the roof loudly while the trees swayed around us.  Several trees came down in our neighborhood and branches fell everywhere but my panels remained bolted to their pole.  By 9:00 AM the grid power failed and we automatically went to batteries without even a blink of the TV.  We closely followed the storm progress as it came on land. 

By noon the storm winds had subsided and some of my neighbors decided to run out and purchase generators.  We knew it would be days before power was restored to the city.  The cheap ones were going for about $500 or a tenth of what my system cost and people were lined up to buy them.  I guess they hadn’t thought about having to constantly feed them with fuel. 

The gas stations couldn’t pump the gas in their tanks because they had no power.  After they got power back it wasn’t long before their pump handles were wrapped with bags signifying they were “out of gas”.  Lines formed at the nearby stations as the generator people with gas jugs bungeed to the roofs of their SUV’s and waited.

The generator people learned that as their jugs would empty they would have to head out and search for more gas around town.  We also experienced another shortage in town, which was gas containers. 

Meanwhile back at my house we had a steady flow of our own refugees wanting to watch TV, enjoy unspoiled food, and to sleep on our floor.  We had our screened windows opened and fans blowing to make it more bearable.  With solar power we had our normal lighting and not candles and flashlights which gave a sense of normalcy to a bad situation.  It was also a lot safer.

We were on an energy budget as to not drain the batteries too quickly.  We had clear skies and plenty of solar charging after the storm but not enough to keep up with our demand.  I had switched over more things to the inverter than I usually run due to the power outage.  I kept a watchful eye on the “Percent Full” gauge and made sure everything was turned off that wasn’t being used.  Having “non-solar” people over is always difficult because they are used to leaving everything on all the time.

I did have an old motor home generator in my greenhouse to back up the solar power system but I had not been running it every month like the manufacturer recommended.  As a result I could not get it to run.  My plans were to use it to power a small air-conditioning window unit to cool two rooms of the house and keep our big box refrigerator going.  We could do without these but I wanted to try.  If this was not possible we would consolidate the food in our solar powered fridge and go with fans.  I ended up bringing it to my mechanic and we got it running. 

On day three the grid power was restored to the neighborhood.  I had fully expected to be out for a week based on the number of trees and lines down around the city.  I found out the reason we were bumped up in repair priority was that there was an elderly person down the street on life support being powered by a shaky generator.

It is great to be back to semi-normal here.  With our town doubling in size overnight from New Orleans evacuees, we have been thrown into assistance mode now.  It sure was great to have been a refuge for many friends and family with our solar power system.  The system performed safe and dependable and kept us off the road searching for fuel.  I believe I will add a few more panels in the future to keep up with the demand of an actual power outage.