Technology This 100% solar community endured Hurricane Ian with no loss of power and minimal damage

[The Helper]

Anthony Grande moved away from Fort Myers three years ago in large part because of the hurricane risk. He has lived in southwest Florida for nearly 19 years, had experienced Hurricanes Charley in 2004 and Irma in 2017 and saw what stronger storms could do to the coast.

Grande told CNN he wanted to find a new home where developers prioritized climate resiliency in a state that is increasingly vulnerable to record-breaking storm surge, catastrophic wind and historic rainfall.

What he found was Babcock Ranch — only 12 miles northeast of Fort Myers, yet seemingly light years away.

Babcock Ranch calls itself “America’s first solar-powered town.” Its nearby solar array — made up of 700,000 individual panels — generates more electricity than the 2,000-home neighborhood uses, in a state where most electricity is generated by burning natural gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel.

So when Hurricane Ian came barreling toward southwest Florida this week, it was a true test for the community. The storm obliterated the nearby Fort Myers and Naples areas with record-breaking surge and winds over 100 mph. It knocked out power to more than 2.6 million customers in the state, including 90% of Charlotte County.

But the lights stayed on in Babcock Ranch.

This 100% solar community endured Hurricane Ian with no loss of power and minimal damage | CNN

Climate resiliency was built into the fabric of Babcock Ranch with stronger storms in mind, and Hurricane Ian was a major test.

www.cnn.com

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All the insurance spent rebuilding stuff in flood areas could be redirected to this instead of trying to deny what is happening and thinking it can be stopped resources should be dedicated to acclimating to the inevitable climate change. Client scientists and advocates will scoff in losing the money that would be put into infrastructure of the most vulnerable areas. This kind of evidence though is hard to dismiss.

 

[Ghan]

Seems like a little bit of a red herring here. It's not like the natural gas power plants were destroyed by the hurricane. The damage was primarily to the transmission infrastructure. That kind of thing will still be needed even with a solar power grid, but perhaps the footprint would be somewhat reduced depending on where the best places are to generate the power compared to what is using it. (Generation can be placed closer to where it is needed.) There are likely some places where it makes more sense than others.

Solar is expensive. It's already going to be rather costly to rebuild destroyed structures as it is, and adding in the cost of solar power right now doesn't seem like the best financial decision. Sure it would be nice to have, but someone has to pay for it. Solar arrays like the one described here are a bit of a different consideration as well since that would be completely new construction.

 

[The Helper]

Just the stuff like building infrastructure underground and if solar panels can be bolted on like roofs are and can survive high winds like these did then yes. Insurance companies should pay for it when they rebuild the places that are destroyed. Paradigms need to change in this day and age. Coastal people cannot continue to be bailed out by Insurance companies just so they can keep there prime spots. Those prime spots will not be around for long global warming is a natural thing and is a real thing and coastlines are going to change!

They need to study and plan for what happens when the environmental scientists fail to stop anything even if the carbon reductions are stopped it just takes one huge volcano to release the CO2 that is way larger than any savings that might happen by there money grubbing environmental science trying to change the weather bullshit! They barely understand how to predict weather and expect to be able to change the warming trend? Look at the Greenland Ice cores and explain the variations before the modern ice age we are warming from? They just ignore that segment. The Greenland Ice cores are way more reliable a measure of temperatures then what climate people call proven numbers. Bullshit!