U.S. Energy Secretary Visited Louisiana, as newest Community Lighthouse project launches
In Louisiana, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm joined hundreds of members of Together Louisiana, the state’s largest grassroots organization, on Thursday, November 16 to celebrate the completion of a Community Lighthouse that will serve residents during disasters. It is located in St. John the Baptist Parish, the most vulnerable county to climate change in the U.S., according to the 2023 Climate Vulnerability Index.
The new Community Lighthouse at New Wine Christian Fellowship in LaPlace, Louisiana is the seventh – and largest – to come online in a network of solar+storage resilience hubs that will span the entire state.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $250 million federal investment in Louisiana that will support a major expansion of Together Louisiana’s Community Lighthouses.
An initiative of Together Louisiana, the Community Lighthouse project aims to provide commercial-scale solar power and back-up battery capacity to congregations and community institutions throughout the state. During extended power outages, the lighthouses will immediately assess need and aid area residents. They will provide cooling and heating stations, charging stations, food distribution, oxygen exchange, light medical equipment, and other critical services.
