What should Ann Arbor name its new mobile solar power station? Submit your ideas
ANN ARBOR, MI — It rolls around hitched to the back of a truck and flips open to transform into a mobile solar power station.
Ann Arbor’s sustainability office is now inviting community members to help come up with a name for the city’s new climate resilience trailer, described as a mobile nanogrid.
Anyone with a clever name idea is asked to fill out an online form to be submitted to the city for consideration.
Creativity is encouraged and the name should reflect the purpose and capabilities of the trailer, such as the fact that it runs entirely off renewable energy, the city advises.
City Council approved $333,000 to purchase the trailer from Sesame Solar Inc., a Jackson-area company. It’s now decked out with logos for the Ann Arbor Fire Department and the city’s A2Zero carbon-neutrality initiative and the city seal.
It’s about climate resilience and it will serve as a source of backup power for critical services during times of power disruption, said Missy Stults, the city’s sustainability director.
“We are ecstatic to add this unit to our toolbox, helping us advance resilience, foster enhanced community engagement, and continue growing our culture of preparedness,” she said in a statement. “Since this is a tool that’s being deployed into and for the community, I’m glad the name that will be bestowed upon it will come from within community.”
The trailer will be on display between Huron and Washington streets downtown at the city’s A2Zero Green Fair 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19. Residents are invited to come check it out.
It has an 8-kilowatt solar array with 45 kilowatt hours of battery storage and hydrogen fuel cell backup power.
City officials said when purchasing it they planned to test to see if it could functionally support Fire Station 3 by Veterans Memorial Park without needing a gas generator during power outages.
It also could serve as an on-demand backup system and be dispatched to areas throughout the city that need critical power and have the appropriate transfer switches to connect to the trailer, Stults previously said. Another likely use cases will be providing a location that impacted residents could charge electronic devices, potentially cool off and communicate with support services, Stults said previously.
The 30-foot-long trailer has worktables and chairs inside, as well as power outlets and USB ports, a 5G internet hotspot and other features, according to a description provided to council.
And more than just a mobile power source, it will be a hands-on, mobile classroom and community engagement tool aimed at bringing sustainability and resilience education directly to Ann Arbor residents, city officials said.
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