A $133,000 project for deployable emergency hybrid energy systems is one of 17 national resilience projects across Aotearoa, New Zealand to receive funds through the Civil Defence Emergency Management Resilience Fund.

The funding will be used to buy two deployable hybrid solar-battery powered trailers. These self-contained, towable units will provide flexibility to deploy off-grid emergency power capability to critical infrastructure sites, isolated marae and community hubs across Tairāwhiti.

TEMO group manager Ben Green says it means local communities will be provided with another capability to enhance resilience during or after an emergency.

“This project extends TEMO’s community-facing deployable response innovations which we have continued to develop since Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. Communities can now communicate and access safe drinking water during isolation events. This project fills a gap we identified to enable deployable emergency power capability.”

As a region, Tairāwhiti is highly exposed to storms, flooding, landslides and infrastructure outages that isolate settlements and disrupt electricity supply for extended periods.

NEMA’s director of civil defence emergency management, John Price, said the selected projects reflected the challenges the nation now faces.

“Every year, it seems like severe weather events are more frequent and hit harder than they ever have before. Some communities are getting hammered year after year, and it is crucial that NEMA’S resilience fund supports their efforts,” he said.

NEMA this year allocated $883,4797  to the nationwide projects.