ROSEAU, Dominica, May 31, 2018 — Through a collaborative effort with Sesame Solar, OutBack Power and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), a Sesame Solar turn-key, containerized, mobile, off-grid, solar-powered Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office was delivered to Dominica this week for installation at Princess Margaret Hospital to help the island continue to rebuild after Hurricane Maria and prepare for the 2018 hurricane season.
Princess Margaret Hospital is the largest hospital on the island and will use the Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office in partnership with the ITUC to provide emergency response efforts during disasters and as a command center. When the island is not in disaster mode, the Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office will provide power generation services to the hospital and the Ministry of Health, and provide a labor employment office for the Waterside Alliance and Workers Union (WAWU) to help rebuild Dominic’s infrastructure.
The Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office includes a fully configured and furnished solar-powered office inside, plus power storage, and export power generation sufficient to power and charge a wide range of medical and communication devices. Easily transported by truck, train, ship, crane or helicopter and set up in less than 15 minutes, the Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office can also be moved to other island locations if and when circumstances require.
To make the best use of the containerized Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office en route to Dominica, it was filled with humanitarian aid that will be distributed upon arrival, including medical supplies provided by Direct Relief and school supplies and toiletries funded by the Kind Organization, Stone Edge Farm and BELLE Capital USA.
“When Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean, I was glued to my television. As a manufacturer of off-grid, Solar Nanogrid Solutions that work ‘inside the box,’ I knew we were in a unique position to make a meaningful contribution to disaster recovery...Hurricane Maria devastated Dominica — knocking out power island-wide and destroying or damaging virtually every structure. Even today, many people remain without power and the disaster has had a terrible impact on jobs and livelihoods.”
Sesame Solar Board Chair Lauren Flanagan.
Sesame Solar reached out to us and OutBack Power to get involved, and both companies enthusiastically got on board.
“Our central mission here is to empower people and communities to take control of their own energy generation and usage, and as part of that mission, we work with partners all over the world to develop and deploy life-saving disaster recovery and preparedness solutions. We were very eager to do our part to help those impacted by Hurricane Maria rebuild with reliable and non-toxic energy security...We donated PHI batteries to provide several days of off-grid power for the Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office, which will enable the Princess Margaret Hospital to provide critical care, as well as a mobile Big Genny portable emergency power kit to facilitate the work of first responders and WAWU workers in the field.”
Former SimpliPhi CEO Catherine Von Burg
“OutBack has always been at the forefront of enabling energy independence, whether it’s for living off-grid or providing critical power in the wake of a natural disaster. So when we were presented with the opportunity to partner on this project in the wake of Hurricane Maria, we jumped at the chance to donate equipment to the cause,. OutBack’s inverter/chargers and charge controllers are ideally suited for exactly this type of application, having been deployed in thousands of mission-critical off-grid applications around the globe for nearly two decades.”
Brandon Provalenko, OutBack’s VP of Commercial Operations
The Nanogrid Disaster Recovery Office will be officially presented to Dominica in a ceremony outside the Emergency Entrance of Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday, June 1, at 2 p.m. EDT with the Honorable Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Kenneth Darroux, Minister of Health, Petter Saint-Jean, Minister of Education, and Mr. Kertist Augustus, Secretary of WAWU, in attendance.
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