The Wall Street Journal: Solar Power Stayed On as Hurricane Ian Knocked Lights Out Across Florida

Storm was the first big test for some communities powered by solar farms and battery storage
By Jennifer Hiller
Oct. 15, 2022

Neighborhoods powered by solar panels with backup batteries weathered the direct onslaught
of Hurricane Ian in Florida, utilities and developers said, keeping the lights on throughout the
storm while millions of others lost power.

At least three solar-powered communities near Fort Myers and Tampa made it through Ian
without losing electricity. Some also had hardened electrical infrastructure, including buried lines
and stronger power poles, that helped them weather the storm and its aftermath.

At the new Medley neighborhood south of Tampa, utility Tampa Electric Co. has a pilot project
with 37 new homes equipped with utility-owned rooftop solar and home batteries. When Ian
knocked out power to about 295,000 customers in the area, Medley was disconnected from the
rest of the electric system, but it never lost power.

The power systems of the homes in Medley are linked and solar on the roof of one home has the
ability to power neighboring houses, said Archie Collins, chief executive of Tampa Electric, a
subsidiary of Emera Inc.

“They were isolated from the grid, and they rode through the entire hurricane without any loss of
power, whereas the neighbors who weren’t on that microgrid unfortunately did lose power,” Mr.
Collins said.

No power system is stormproof. In recent years, some solar infrastructure has weathered
hurricanes unscathed while some has sustained damage—a continuing area of study for the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the U.S. Energy Department. To figure out best
practices, the laboratory has looked at factors including system siting and design, maintenance
and avoiding things such as solar rooftop overhangs that can catch the wind.

Ian represented the first serious test for some solar-powered communities in Florida. The storm
made landfall Sept. 28 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, devastating parts of southwest Florida
with floods, high winds and storm surges before ripping across the state and leaving about 2.7
million customers without lights. More than 100 people died, and the storm made landfall later in
South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane.

Ian wrought significant damage to Florida’s electric infrastructure, especially to distribution lines
that connect communities to the grid—a common point of failure during hurricanes and other
storms.

Aging infrastructure and extreme weather events are affecting electric reliability across the U.S.,
causing more businesses and homeowners to buy backup generators and solar-plus-storage so
they can go it alone when the grid fails. Microgrids, which can create islands of power for
campuses, businesses or neighborhoods amid a wider blackout, grew more than sevenfold
between 2010 and 2019, according to the industry group Edison Electric Institute.

Not everyone can afford the cost of such systems. Buying backup generators or solar panels
requires upfront spending, and analysts say that adding batteries to homes with solar—which
allows people to disconnect from the grid during emergencies—generally extends the time it
takes for the system to pay for itself and isn’t an investment that makes sense on a purely
financial basis. There is also no guarantee that backup power or a business or neighborhood
microgrid will escape severe weather unscathed.

Solar paired with storage fared relatively well during Hurricane Ida in Louisiana in September
2021, including at a 50-unit affordable apartment building that kept power as the storm knocked
out transmission lines carrying electricity into New Orleans.

Logan Burke, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Affordable Energy in New
Orleans, said the systems can help beyond storms by relieving pressure on the grid during periods
of high demand.

In Babcock Ranch north of Fort Myers, an 840-acre solar farm and a battery storage system
helped power the master-planned community. Babcock Ranch wasn’t completely self-sufficient—
it pulled power from the grid when Ian’s storm clouds arrived, but was able to do so because all
of the electrical lines are buried to avoid wind damage, said Eric Silagy, CEO of utility Florida
Power & Light, a unit of NextEra Energy Inc. that owns and operates the solar farm and battery.

Solar came back online to power the community the morning after the storm passed, when much
of southwest Florida was without power. In all, Florida Power & Light had 38 solar farms in the
path of the storm, with just 0.3% of its 11.7 million panels damaged, Mr. Silagy said.

Resident Ryan Foelske said the lights flickered a few times during the storm, prompting him and
his wife to precool the house and prepare for the loss of air conditioning. But the power stayed
on, and their kindergartner and second-grader watched Disney+ without interruption. “The kids
were freezing and complaining about the cold,” Mr. Foelske said.

In Cortez, Fla., south of Tampa Bay, the 21 homes in the Hunters Point neighborhood also kept
power during the hurricane. They are equipped with rooftop solar and batteries and built 16 feet
above the flood zone, said developer Marshall Gobuty, who plans to build a total of 86 homes and
20 condos there.

“We just didn’t build regular houses,” said Mr. Gobuty, who added there was some luck involved
for how well the development fared.

“Murphy’s Law follows every human being,” he added. “I’ll take the luck.”