Footprint Project: Hurricane Ian response effort
Please consider donating to help out our friends at Footprint Project bring emergency response microgrids to Florida
Hurricane Ian will put millions of Floridians in the dark, potentially for weeks
Last year, after Hurricane Ida knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in the New Orleans region, the DER Task Force community supported Footprint Project big time, raising nearly $65,000 to deploy mobile microgrids in the region. It was amazing to watch the community donate personally and tap into its extended network, showing our dedication to the promise of energy resilience for all.
Well, it's time for the Task Force to show up again and support our friends, this time in Florida. Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm hurtling through Florida, is expected to be highly destructive, causing severe winds, rain, and flooding. As of this writing (the morning of 9/29), the hurricane has left over 1.3 million utility customers (~3 million people) on the west coast of Florida without power. This is just the beginning, and it’s possible several more million will lose power in the coming days.
For those who might not know, Footprint Project is a lean, mean, microgrid-deploying machine based in Minnesota with a hub of operations in Nashville. They have an awesome track record of helping communities during natural disasters, including New Orleans, Houston, Puerto Rico, Nashville, and more.
As we speak, they are gearing up their fleet in New Orleans, with travel to Florida imminent. They will deploy their microgrids at community centers, medical centers, and fire stations, as well as targeting street corners and parking lots so people can charge cell phones, medical and mobility devices and use WiFi.
Here's a message from our friend Jamie Swezey at Footprint Project
"Footprint Project is currently in New Orleans prepping our fleet of mobile solar generators for deployment to Florida this weekend. Based on warnings from the National Hurricane Center, we are preparing for the worst. With the boost of DER Task Force’s industry network, we were able to power up more community sites than ever after Hurricane Ida. We are turning to y’all again to help us help Floridians facing Hurricane Ian - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!"
The DER Task Force has full confidence in Footprint Project’s expertise and track record. They are a registered 501(c)(3), are ultra-lean and effective, and you can be sure all donations will go directly to getting emergency power to hurricane victims in Florida.
With more money, they can bring on and mobilize more staff, ship in more solar/battery equipment, and operate more community sites. They have partnerships with local groups on the ground ready to provide power, and the supply chain is lined up provided they have the funds.
DER Task Force is all about making the enormous promise of distributed energy solutions happen faster, and while that typically takes the form of heady discussions and policy work, this is an immediate and concrete opportunity to make a big difference using distributed energy technology. Let's make this happen!!
We encourage you to donate what you can, and maybe even slightly more than you can. We are also currently in talks with major donors to match what we are able to raise, so the more we can pull together the better.
Here are some photos showcasing the awesome work Footprint Project did last year during Hurricane Ida:
Thank you for the support!
— DER Task Force Leadership Team