FSEC Solar Trailer Provides Emergency Power to Storm Victims

By Ed Heiland Feb. 12, 2007

Photo: Ed Heiland

FSEC's solar emergency power trailer was called in to help provide power after the latest round of severe weather and tornadoes.

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When killer tornadoes destroyed the mobile home of Joe DeMar earlier this month, the Lake County man just managed to escape with his life. But in the hours after the storm, he faced another crisis: no electricity to power his nebulizer, an electric device that pumps oxygen and misted medication into his damaged lungs.

Before state or federal help arrived, Joe got a visit from Bill Young with UCF’s Florida Solar Energy Center asking if his solar-power generator could help him out.

The Photovoltaic, or PV, disaster trailer has a large, flat solar panel that charges several batteries during the day and is capable of delivering more than 2,500 watts of power within a 24-hour period. Over the past several years, the trailer has provided power for storm victims hit hard by severe weather and tornadoes from South Florida to Louisiana.
  
 It provided enough power for DeMar’s nebulizer, a lamp and a radio. “It’s the perfect answer for special needs victims like Joe,” Young said. “If we had a gasoline or diesel generator here, the exhaust emissions from it would fill the air around his campsite and therefore impact his health. This solar system produces no emissions and it makes no noise so he can use it any time of the night without disturbing neighbors.”

Young envisions a role for the PV trailer in every Florida county for emergency assistance. Although nearly 10 times the initial cost of a gas-powered generator of similar capacity, the FSEC senior research engineer says it doesn’t take long to recoup that investment.

“When you look at operating costs and lifecycle costs, this is cheaper because you don’t have fuel,” he said. “We don’t have oil changes or maintenance or cylinders to rebuild. We replace the batteries about once every six years while some generators have to be rebuilt every 500 to 1,000 hours.”

The PV disaster trailer has proven itself again and again, providing power for emergency medical units in Port Charlotte after Hurricane Charlie, ham radio operators in Central Florida following Hurricane Francis and cooling fans for Katrina victims in New Orleans.

“And yes,” Young said, “it works even on cloudy days, although it is most efficient when the storm clouds clear.”

FSEC, a research institute of the University of Central Florida conducts research in building science, photovoltaics, solar thermal, hydrogen and alternative fuels, fuel cells and other advanced energy technologies.

Visit www.fsec.ucf.edu/en or www.energyfordisasters.org for more information.

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