It’s time to switch off generators and turn on resilient, safe renewables

The destructive storms of the recent past are hard to forget:

• 2005: Katrina.
• 2012: Sandy.
• 2017: Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
• 2022: Fiona, Ian, Nicole — and possibly more to come.

Hurricanes are here — and sadly, more are on the way. From New York to Texas to Florida to Puerto Rico, over 60 million Americans live in places susceptible to these strengthening storms. 

Just last week, Hurricane Nicole hit Florida with gusts of 75 mph, knocking out power to over 300,000 homes. This was the fourth hurricane to strike the United States during the month of November. When people turn on their TVs, they see footage of flooding, storm damage, and unprepared leaders.

Here’s what the world doesn’t often see: Americans’ lives in jeopardy — not just from the initial storm impacts, but from an outdated approach to response focused on generators providing much- needed electricity. 

Just last month, President Biden had a generator in the backdrop of his post-Fiona press conference. Meanwhile, a few days before in North Carolina, after Hurricane Ian, a man died of carbon monoxide poisoning after improperly running his generator inside. And in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Fiona, there were two other fatalities involving generators: one from carbon monoxide poisoning and another from a fire that started while refueling a generator. These are only some examples of why, for hurricane-affected regions, diesel (or fuel) generators, while common, can be a harmful temporary energy fix. As regions rebuild from the recent hurricane season, federal, state and local leaders should be investing in renewable energy solar-plus-storage systems, a superior solution from a health, financial, and resilience perspective. Here are three reasons why:

1. Renewable energy is much safer

Generators produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide — a deadly invisible odorless gas. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, approximately 85 people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by generators. 

Solar-plus-storage microgrids that operated during these recent storms caused no deaths because these systems create no air pollution or combustion hazards.

2. Renewable microgrids are a financial win

Generators are not cheap: a 100-kilowatt model, like the one in view at Biden’s press conference, can serve a small commercial building like a pharmacy or local supermarket but cost $30,000 to $80,000. And household sized generators can easily cost thousands of dollars.

Most of the time, this significant investment sits idle, providing no returns. When a storm hits, fuel is expensive. After Hurricane Fiona, a hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico with guests that included first responders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Red Cross had to pay $12,000 for fuel for their 1-megawatt (10 times larger than the one at the Biden press conference) generator for every five days of use.

In contrast, solar-plus-storage microgrids create electricity bill savings for customers from the start, and the Energy Information Administration recently reported that solar generation costs less than natural gas.

3. Solar-plus-storage systems require far less maintenance

Surprisingly, the San Juan hotel operations manager who paid upward of $12,000 on fuel after Fiona was not upset with the high diesel price but was rather grateful to get the delivery.

This is because, after a storm, getting a delivery is no easy, as fuel suppliers are inundated with demand. Fuel access can also be challenging more broadly.

After Hurricane Maria in 2017, the port in San Juan closed, preventing fuel from being delivered to the island — and at the local level — storm debris or landslides can make roads impassable, making it impossible to get diesel for generators.

Generators also require frequent maintenance. The generator at that San Juan hotel had to be temporarily shut off for needed maintenance just ten days after Fiona.Solar-plus-storage systems, however, require far less maintenance. They continue to run during and after the storms, keeping lights on, phones charged, food fresh and powering vital operations like fire dispatch. After Ian, in Florida, only 0.3 percent of the 15 million solar panels within Florida Power and Light’s system were damaged.

It’s time for federal and state leaders to understand that good policies on paper are not enough — we need strategies that achieve results. Federal agencies must reduce the number of diesel generators purchased with federal funds and instead provide safe, renewable solutions — before disasters strike. These agencies must change their often hands-off approach of putting the onus on the local and state applicants and be more proactive. 

From Florida to Puerto Rico, it is typically wealthy community members that have access to solar-plus-storage. During storm recovery, federal agencies must ensure they are enacting the Biden administration’s Justice40 goal “that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.” 

Equity must be front and center. Otherwise, we could spend new money to reinforce existing inequalities: The neighborhoods with more resources will have lights on, while those with less will be in the dark.

Michael Liebman is a manager at RMI focused on using blended finance to deploy solar-plus-storage microgrids, at scale, in lower- and middle-income communities. RMI.org, founded as Rocky Mountain Institute, is a non-partisan, non-profit research and advisory organization working on the energy transition.

Elizabeth Arnold is currently an energy policy and program implementation consultant. Previously she worked at the U.S. Department of Energy on Puerto Rico energy recovery and resilience.