Stacey Alapai's house in Makawao went dark one day in late January. Down the road, a truck carrying heavy equipment had gotten into an accident that brought down the power lines.
"We didn't have power or internet for pretty much the whole day," she said.
In this year's short run, different pockets of Maui have lost power for all kinds of reasons, including weather events and Public Safety Power Shutoff protocols, during which Hawaiian Electric preemptively deenergizes its lines to reduce wildfire risk.
Not having access to electricity is more than an inconvenience. It can cost you money if the food in your fridge spoils, or threaten your health if you have a medical device that needs power. When that happens, it can make you feel — literally and figuratively — powerless.
But when Alapai's electricity went out, she had options, because she has a solar-powered backup battery. She was able to keep her fridge running and save her groceries, as well as charge her phone.
Alapai wants other Maui residents to be equally resilient in the face of power outages. Along with Haʻikū resident Shay Chan Hodges, Alapai is the co-coordinator of the Power Back Project.
"It is a play on words. Our goal is essentially to give power back to the people — not just literally energy power, but also decision-making power," Alapai said.
Chan Hodges launched the project in the wake of the Lahaina fires with her husband, as well as former Public Utilities Commissioner Jennifer Potter. At that time, Chan Hodges said their aim was to help Lahaina residents redesign their energy landscape.
While energy issues were a priority, Chan Hodges said residents had to attend to more pressing needs, like housing. So the group pivoted in its scope.
"That's how we got to the second-life solar and battery project. We realized there's an immediate need for backup power, and there is a solution, and we can help make that happen," Chan Hodges said.
Alapai and Chan Hodges got grant funding to purchase portable batteries. To charge them, they found partners who were willing to donate refurbished solar panels.
Now, they're running a pilot program to loan the batteries and panels to community members with backup power needs.
The batteries hold enough power to keep a big appliance like a fridge or a medical device running for several hours. If the battery is plugged into a device when the electricity goes out, it will automatically start delivering power to that device.
Alapai said that particular feature was a priority for a new participant in their program, a mother whose child uses a medical device.
Her child is unable to climb the stairs to the second floor of their home, and she told Alapai she worried that if the power went out at night while she was sleeping, her child would have no way of alerting her that they need help.
"So we're very excited to see how they end up using this battery, because for her, it was very much a peace of mind thing, of knowing something will automatically turn on to keep her child breathing if [the power] goes out at night," Alapai said.
Alapai and Chan Hodges are starting small. Their first cohort included eight people, and they are slowly scaling up to about 30 households. Keeping their group tight allows them to focus on tailor-made power solutions for each participant.
But Chan Hodges said they are open to a bigger battery loaner program in the future and one day hope to start an energy hotline that could troubleshoot power problems and collect data on community needs.
"The way that we are truly resilient is not just one individual household having the right technology. That's not going to save us," Chan Hodges said.
"What's going to save us is working with our neighbors and recognizing… what we can do together, and that’s what we really want to see happen."
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