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LAPLACE — An ongoing experiment to make use of solar-powered group “lighthouse” hubs as dependable sources of vitality and refuge throughout blackouts handed its first real-world check this month with Hurricane Francine.

The Class 2 storm struck the coast of Terrebonne Parish on Sept. 11 and knocked out energy to just about a half-million prospects statewide. The next morning, Collectively Louisiana’s so-called “group lighthouses” continued operating their lights and air conditioners as typical and opened their doorways to the general public.

All 10 of the undertaking websites — 9 in New Orleans and one in LaPlace — have been up and operating. The lighthouses are positioned in church buildings, group facilities and different buildings outfitted with commercial-scale photo voltaic and battery storage designed to function at any time day or night time, whatever the standing of {the electrical} grid.

Collectively Louisiana, a coalition of civic and church organizations, launched the lighthouse program in 2022. Funded via donations and authorities grants, the lighthouses function resiliency hubs that present close by residents with entry to electrical energy, refrigeration, shelter, medical providers and different fundamental wants throughout energy outages and different disasters.

Collectively Louisiana’s Erin Hansen stated about 500 folks sought refuge on the lighthouses in Francine’s aftermath. The group additionally made meals and water deliveries to aged residents on the Redemptorist residence constructing in New Orleans’ Decrease Backyard District. The residence advanced was with out electrical energy and unstaffed for 2 days, Hansen stated.

The New Wine Christian Fellowship, the one group lighthouse in LaPlace, opened its gigantic Airline Freeway facility that occupies the previous Plaza LaPlace shopping center.

A complete of 19 folks sought shelter on the church, Pastor Neil Bernard stated in a telephone interview. Luckily, the storm was not almost as unhealthy as many had anticipated, he stated.

Francine was the primary real-world check of the Group Lighthouse Challenge and the solar-plus-battery methods it depends on. Collectively Louisiana started ramping up building of its lighthouses after many fossil gas backup mills — together with ones for hospitals — broke down or ran out of gas throughout Hurricane Ida. The LaPlace space was one of many hardest hit within the August 2021 storm, with energy restoration taking weeks.

Many feared a repeat of Ida as soon as Francine began flooding low-lying areas and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans’ backup mills started to fail. Simply as in Ida, energy outages disrupted drainage pumps and the sewer elevate stations that transport effluent to a wastewater remedy facility.

Energy outages additionally plagued the sewer system in Jefferson Parish, forcing officers to deploy backup mills and vacuum vehicles to keep away from overflows, whereas residents have been requested to restrict their water use.

After the worst had handed, authorities leaders credited resilience initiatives and restoration efforts accomplished over the previous few years, in addition to backups for backup mills, as key components that allowed Louisiana to resist the storm.

For Collectively Louisiana, photo voltaic and battery-storage methods proved most dependable in Francine’s wake. Though they price greater than most mills, photo voltaic methods include the additional advantage of being off-grid and first vitality sources. The panels are on and producing electrical energy daily, not simply throughout blackouts, permitting the buildings that host lighthouses to save cash on vitality consumption year-round.

Other than a single broken photo voltaic panel that had been improperly put in on the LaPlace church, the group lighthouse experiment has to date labored because it was designed, based on Collectively Louisiana. A whole bunch of different panels on the outdated mall’s roof have been positive and offered greater than sufficient electrical energy, Bernard stated.

“The excellent news is it labored similar to it was designed to,” he stated.