BY JESSICA PARKS
The Brooklyn Public Library
is outfi tting the roofs of
four southern Brooklyn literary
emporiums with solar energy
backup systems that guarantee
the lights stay lit — and
providing the area with safe havens
during emergencies.
A representative from local
nonprofi t Solar One told Community
Board 18 on Feb. 17 that
they’re partnering with the borough’s
system of book repositories
to install solar panels atop
four structures — the Mill Basin,
Kings Highway, Coney Island,
and Gerritsen Beach branches.
The nearly-$1 million project
for all four branches is being
funded through the Governor’s
Offi ce of Storm Recovery, and
is one of many projects that will
be occurring in the borough’s
coastal areas to better prepare
for emergency situations.
“In 2017, Solar One partnered
with the Governor’s Offi
ce to fi gure out solutions to
help with community recovery
after power outages,” Angelica
Ramdhari of Solar One
said. “So there was this really
large grassroots effort to fi gure
out how to help individuals and
businesses and nonprofi ts recover
COURIER L 18 IFE, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021
after Superstorm Sandy.”
News of the renewable energy
systems comes as residents
of Texas suffered days of blackouts
after unusual weather conditions
froze natural gas pipes
and nearly knocked out the
state’s power grid.
In the event of a power outage
in their surrounding area, the
Brooklyn libraries’ solar panels
would disconnect from the power
grid and instead use the installed
battery system, which stores
about a day’s worth of power.
With enough sunlight, the
solar panels will recharge the
battery for the next day’s use,
according to Ramdhari.
Residents can go to the library
to charge their electronic
devices or utilize any emergency
services that may be available
during a power outage, but regular
library services wouldn’t
be available during this time.
“The idea is that if the power
goes out in your community you
would be able to go into this building
to have access inside an insulated
space,” Ramdhari said,
“where you could charge your cell
phones, charge computers, charge
power tools and have access to resources
that might be available
during times of emergency.”
But even still, she warned,
the library is not meant to be a
place for people to stay during a
power outage, and will only be
open at specifi c hours of the day.
“It is not meant to be a shelter.
It is going to be open for a dedicated
amount of hours per day and
it is going to be open as long as the
power is out,” Ramdhari said.
At the Mill Basin branch, the
solar panels will be installed on a
The Mill Basin library branch will soon be outfi tted with solar panels and
a backup power system. Photo by Jordan Rathkopf
canopy that will be raised seven
feet over the library’s roof, Ramdhari
said and is projected to be put
in place by the end of the year.
While many welcomed the
backup power system, Assemblymember
Jaime Williams and
some community board members
lamented that Canarsie —
another neighborhood heavily hit
by Superstorm Sandy and where
there are two libraries — was being
left out of the program.
“I just feel as though Canarsie
sometimes is put on the back
burner,” said the politician who
represents a chunk of neighborhoods
in southeastern Brooklyn,
“and their library should
have been included.”
Ramdhari said logistics like
access to sunlight prevented
them from using certain library
branches, but Solar One
is working with another organization
to bring renewable energy
to the neighborhood.
“We looked at all Brooklyn
Public Library sites for the ones
that can actually host these systems,”
Ramdhari said. “The
likely thing that happened with
the Canarsie branch is that the
building was getting too much
shade from other buildings or
there was some other design
constraint that made doing systems
there impossible.”
Let there be light!
Four southern Brooklyn libraries get
solar backup systems for emergency use
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