Disaster Recovery Orgs Turn To Batteries And Solar Power

November 14, 2018 | Direct Relief, a nonprofit disaster recovery organization based in Santa Barbara, California, is protecting itself with a solar-powered microgrid, equipped with a Tesla battery and software, Fast Company reports. There are 999 solar panels on the roof. The warehouse can keep running, and keep vital medicine refrigerated, if an earthquake or other disaster shuts down the grid. Direct Relief also has a diesel-powered generator, but that is vulnerable to fuel shortages and breakdown. The organization is finding that the falling cost of batteries means that it’s increasingly possible to rely on solar panels instead.