In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the nonprofit Footprint Project is replacing loud and polluting generators with solar panels and batteries in affected areas of North Carolina.
Seventeen days after Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina, the signs of recovery were evident. Trucks filled with soldiers, water tanks, and essential supplies like pet food and diapers traveled along Interstate 40. In local towns, signs advertising free food and water appeared everywhere, both from official relief organizations and makeshift ones.
Generators were also a common sight. These noisy machines powered trailers where residents of Asheville sought showers, weeks after the city’s water system failed. They fueled food trucks serving hot meals to thousands of families without working stoves and filtered water for drinking and sanitation.
However, western North Carolina is not unique. Generators are standard in relief efforts worldwide after disasters. Yet, a nonprofit from New Orleans is working to replace these fossil-fuel generators with solar-powered batteries across the region. This effort is the largest response the Footprint Project has undertaken since its inception, with hopes that its impact will last well into the future.
“If we can get this sustainable technology in quickly, it will lead to a new conversation during the rebuilding phase that would not occur if we simply repeated past practices,” said Will Heegaard, the operations director for Footprint Project.
“Responders rely on what they know works, and our mission is to provide them with solutions that surpass the effectiveness of single-use fossil fuels,” he explained. “Then, they can begin to ask for these alternatives, which can trigger a shift in systems.”
A Simple Solution
The appeal of diesel and gas generators is straightforward. They are readily available and easy to operate. As long as fuel is accessible, they can run continuously, keeping people warm, fed, and connected even during power outages. They are undeniably life-saving.
However, generators have their drawbacks. Burning fossil fuels contributes to carbon emissions, worsening climate change. It also releases smog and soot that can provoke asthma and other respiratory issues.
In Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, the widespread use of generators caused harmful air pollution levels in San Juan to exceed legal limits. This risk is especially dangerous for vulnerable groups that depend on generators to power essential equipment like oxygenators.
Practical challenges also arise. Generators can be expensive, costing over $1,000 at retail stores. After initial fuel supplies run out—like in some parts of western North Carolina immediately following Helene—finding more fuel can be difficult and costly. Additionally, generators create noise, which can harm health and increase stress for aid workers and the people they assist.
Heegaard saw these challenges firsthand during the 2016 Ebola outbreak in Guinea, where he trained locals to use generator-powered refrigerators to transport blood samples for testing. He had a grant to reimburse lab technicians for fuel costs.
“This situation was already challenging, and the idea of reimbursing cash for gas in a very poor rural area seemed overwhelming,” Heegaard recalled. “I had heard about solar refrigerators and asked a local logistician in Conakry if they were feasible.”
The next day, the logistician confirmed they could be installed within a month. “It was a no-brainer,” Heegaard said. “We hadn’t pursued it simply because the grant didn’t allow for it.”
Transformative Microgrids
Two years later, the Footprint Project emerged from that experience. The organization has a small team of seven full-time staff members, supported by volunteers who respond to disasters. They partner with local solar companies and nonprofits to gather and distribute supplies.
The group installs solar-powered charging stations, water filtration systems, and other climate technologies in communities that need them most—starting with those lacking power, water, or generators and extending to those seeking to reduce fossil fuel use.
Footprint has built nearly 50 solar-powered microgrids in western North Carolina, from Lake Junaluska to Linville Falls. This is more than in any previous disaster response. The beneficiaries range from volunteer fire stations to trailer parks and art collectives in West Asheville.
Mike Talyad, a photographer who founded a collective to support artists of color, partnered with the Grassroots Aid Partnership, a national nonprofit, to address relief needs after Helene. “The entire city was scrambling to respond,” he noted.
Solar panels from Footprint that initially powered a water filter have largely replaced generators for food trucks that provide up to 1,000 meals a day. “When we switched over, it was a time when gas availability was still uncertain,” Talyad said.
Footprint also supplied six solar panels, a Tesla battery, and a charging station to replace a noisy generator at a retirement community in South Asheville. This system filtered pond water, making it drinkable. Residents expressed relief as they collected their drinking water, pleased to see the solar panels installed and the generator’s noise reduced.
“Most responders are not using solar microgrids solely for environmental reasons,” Heegaard explained. “They switch to solar because it significantly lowers fuel costs. Some spend tens of thousands of dollars monthly on diesel or gas. This change can be transformative for their response efforts.”
Community Support
Footprint’s comprehensive relief efforts and wide-ranging beneficiaries are partly due to the scale of Helene’s devastation, which initially left over 1 million people in North Carolina without power.
“It’s hard to describe the situation out there right now,” said Matt Abele, executive director of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, who visited early in the recovery. “It is truly heartbreaking to see entire mobile-home parks completely destroyed.”
The breadth of Footprint’s response also stems from its strategy of partnering with grassroots groups, government organizations, and the local solar industry. These partnerships have strengthened the relief effort.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from the clean energy community,” Abele said. “This includes both equipment donations and financial support.”
Four hours east of the affected areas, Greentech Renewables Raleigh has been gathering and storing solar panels and other supplies. The company also raises money for harder-to-obtain items like photovoltaic wire and batteries before transporting them west.
“We have people, trucks, and relationships,” said Shasten Jolley, the manager at Greentech. “We utilize these resources to help.”
Supplies are delivered to Mars Hill, a small college town about 20 miles north of Asheville that was largely unaffected by Helene. Frank Johnson, the owner of a robotics company, volunteered his 110,000-square-foot facility for storage through a local government organization.
Johnson is just one example of how community members have come together to help, Abele noted. “When you’re out there, you can see that many people are coping by supporting their neighbors.”
Preparing for Future Responses
While Footprint’s operations are effective, they are not without challenges. For instance, most donated solar panels designated for the retirement community in South Asheville were nonfunctional, a fact discovered after a 40-minute drive to the site. The team returned later with working units but had to decide what to do with the broken panels.
“This is solar-aid waste,” Heegaard explained. “The last site we visited faced a similar issue. Now we have to figure out how to recycle the broken panels.”
Microgrids can also stop functioning due to understandable operator errors, such as running them overnight for heating, Heegaard said.
The Footprint Project faces a larger issue: scale. As a small organization among major relief groups, it lacks the capacity for a larger response. After Hurricane Milton struck shortly after Helene, Heegaard’s group chose to focus its resources on North Carolina.
With climate-related disasters likely to increase, Footprint hopes to encourage larger, well-resourced disaster relief organizations to incorporate solar microgrids into their responses.
As power is gradually restored across the region, with just over 5,000 people still without electricity, discussions about the future of energy infrastructure are ongoing.
Advocates and policymakers are exploring ways to make microgrids and distributed solar a permanent feature of the energy grid. Footprint aims to inspire change from the ground up. For example, a volunteer fire station might decide to install solar panels during its rebuilding process.
“We can shift the conversation around resilience and recovery by highlighting successful efforts made when power was out and debris filled the streets,” Heegaard said.
Footprint also envisions creating “lending libraries” for its equipment in locations like Asheville, allowing items to be reused for community events and disaster relief.
“The solar trailer, microgrid, or water maker that supported Burnsville Elementary School after the storm can be repurposed to power a music stage or an outdoor movie screening,” Heegaard noted. “That equipment will be available for future responses, whether in Knoxville, Atlanta, or South Carolina.”
Related Topics
