Solar power project on ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä's West Side to include community disaster hub

The initial plan was to put solar panels on the church’s property. That project would help secure funding for a larger solar project on the West Side.

While the church is no longer working with Common Defense, Haley is still planning to implement solar power on the church’s property through solar panels on a carport in the parking lot. The church will also have a natural gas generator.

Haley said there wasn’t a “bad falling out� with Common Defense. Instead, the organization was “more political� and didn’t align with the church's philosophies.

The church needs to raise $350,000 for the solar panels. Haley plans to ask local businesses, foundations and the Kanawha County Commission for funding. He said the City of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä has been supportive of the project.

Haley said he feels state government will not back the project as Gov. Patrick Morrisey has been supportive of the "federal government," which has “walked away from renewable energy,� Haley said.

Disaster relief

He said he hopes the solar power can turn the church into a “resilience hub� when a disaster happens, such as when water infiltrated the gas lines for more than 1,000 West Side homes and businesses in November 2023.

“When something goes on, people come here, they get warm or they get air [conditioning]Ìýor they can power their cell phones,â€� he said. “We’re trying to put ourselves in a situation where we can viably help our community.â€�Ìý

The hub could also have a place for people to sleep, eat and get filtered water.

The hub is part of a disaster resiliency plan being put together by the Accelerate West Side team. Accelerate West Side is a project of the West Virginia Community Development Hub that is trying to make an economic resiliency plan for the West Side.

Disaster plan

Mavery Davis, Collaborative and Fund coordinator of WESTSIDE Together and member of the Accelerate West Side team, said the first piece of the disaster resiliency plan is a survey about the experiences of West Side residents during the gas outage.

Hartley Health Solutions, a Morgantown consulting firm, will collect responses and help Accelerate West Side put together a plan. Davis said Accelerate West Side will work with local government agencies, businesses and nonprofits to create memorandums of understanding of what each entity is responsible for.

During the gas outage, community members stepped up to help, but Davis said this plan for better disaster infrastructure will make it easier for the community to support each other.

“ This plan will help us to better coordinate the assets that we already have so that we can be more effective and more efficient,� Davis said.

Community response

Already in the survey, people have shared that they didn’t know where to get help during the gas outage, Davis said. Then, once they got to a place for help, it may not have had all the help they needed.

For example, someone may have shown up to get a heater and then realized they also needed to figure out how to cook meals.

 �We're hoping through this disaster resiliency plan that we can identify what the right things are or should be,� Davis said, “and then actually put agreements and understandings in place so that it's not a question on who's doing what or who's providing what — that we actually have a plan before disaster hits.�

Haley is still hoping that the solar panels at his church will launch more solar projects on the West Side. Later this year, he plans to have a community meeting about solar power.

“Our infrastructure is so fragile right now,� Haley said. “We don’t want to be sitting in the dark.�