As Hurricane Grace and Tropical Storm Henri cause destruction up and down the Atlantic, people living on islands and coastal territories must prepare for an above average hurricane season. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted that we could see up to 10 hurricanes in the Atlantic in 2021, three to five of which could have winds of 111 miles per hour or greater. These hurricanes wreak havoc on people’s lives, both emotionally and physically. They destroy critical infrastructure, leaving many people without basic services such as electricity and water for prolonged periods of time.

Fortunately, many islands are installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems — often including batteries — to decrease dependence on volatile fuel imports and provide more reliable power to their residents. However, even PV systems aren’t invulnerable to hurricanes. Over the years, we have found that some PV systems suffer major damage during hurricanes, while others survive and continue producing power. We set out to find out why.

In 2018, we analyzed solar PV systems in the Caribbean after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. We then wrote a report, "Solar Under Storm," detailing how to build hurricane-resistant ground-mounted PV systems. We followed that with two reports in 2020: a similar report geared toward roof-mounted PV systems and one detailing best practices for policymakers. These reports describe how to build resilient PV systems are making a huge difference in keeping the lights on for people on islands around the world.

Resilience in the Bahamas

Hurricane Dorian devastated The Bahamas in 2019. Since then, the government and utilities have been working hard to deploy reliable and resilient power. And that includes employing the best practices learned from our "Solar Under Storm" analysis. RMI worked with Bahamas Power and Light to design, develop and install a solar microgrid on Ragged Island. The 390 kilowatt (kW) microgrid is built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane (with winds of 180 mph) and provides 93 percent of the island’s energy needs. The project was highlighted on CBS’ "60 Minutes."

Read the full article about hurricane-resilient solar power by Laurie Guevara-Stone at GreenBiz.