Empowered by Light, Enphase send solar generators to LA fire fight
Renewable energy nonprofit Empowered by Light partnered with Enphase to deploy portable solar generators to communities impacted by the Los Angeles fires and to fire fighting teams in the thick of the ongoing battle.
“These solar generators will provide critically needed energy and help firefighters and others transition off diesel generators–which have historically been the go-to source for power during natural disasters,” said Empowered by Light’s Executive Director, Moira Hanes. “This effort will help break the negative feedback loop between environmental disasters and fossil-fuel-based responses.”
The two Bay Area based organizations distributed 25 Enphase IQ PowerPack 1500s, a portable solar generator with portable solar modules, that can be used to charge cell phones, laptops, radios, lighting, and other small critical devices.
A dozen of the solar generators are being deployed to the strike teams battling the fires to power fire personnel’s radios and cell phones. Six solar generators are also being distributed to World Central Kitchen providing infrastructure support to community hubs in low-income neighborhoods without power. These units will power lighting and provide a free and local source of power for charging cell phones and other small personal devices.
“These units will provide a renewable power source to power critical communications for the fire fighters serving on the frontline strike teams when they’re working in areas with no power or limited power,” stated Captain Richard Birt, retired from Las Vegas Fire & Rescue and founder of Solar and Fire Education, who is helping coordinate deployment of these units.
Solar + Storage Disaster Relief
Solar and battery storage companies often heed to call to help after a natural disaster leaves people without power. Another recent example is that ABC Solar, which deployed emergency solar + storage + generator systems in Southern California after a landslide in July 2024.
Within days of the landslide, Bradley Bartz, founder and CEO of ABC Solar, and his team of five installers have thus far managed to bring new power systems to 29 residents of the area, whom at one point were ordered to evacuate. “One day I did six systems,” Bartz said in an interview with Solar Builder.
The formula for the emergency installs usually included Silfab panels, Sol-Ark 15 kW Hybrid Inverters, and Briggs & Stratton stackable 6 kWh SimpliPHI batteries and propane generators. BatteryEVO based in Chatsworth, Calif., also stepped in with their Walrus Atlantic 12 kW/30 kWh all-in-one battery systems, Bartz said.
