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by Marcel Francis
First responders and city leaders gathered at Winston-Salem Fire Station 3 on Wednesday to unveil one of four solar installations planned at city fire stations this year, part of a broader push to cut energy costs and meet long-term clean energy goals.
City officials said the solar systems, depending on the station, are expected to generate between 40% and 80% of each building’s electricity.
“Our City Council established this goal probably 5 years ago so we got to start making some progress if we are going to meet out goal and this is a good way to do it,” Mayor Allen Joines said.
Officials said the project is funded through capital improvement dollars dedicated to sustainability and green infrastructure. The city said the installation at Station 3 alone cost roughly $45,000 and is expected to save about $3,900 a year on energy costs.
The installations support Winston-Salem’s clean energy goals of reaching 50% clean energy use in city buildings and vehicles by 2030 and transitioning to 100% clean energy by 2050.
“We’ve already done two fire stations with solar installations, we’re going to do two more and we already have a building downtown the Bryce A. Stuart Building with that solar installation. So, we’ll have five installations this year,” Joines said.
The city is also partnering with Wake Forest University on a mobile solar battery trailer designed to help residents when the power goes out. Engineering students spent two semesters building the trailer, which will be housed by the fire department and deployed into neighborhoods during major outages.
Officials said the trailer can provide temporary power for residents who rely on electricity for medical devices like oxygen machines, wheelchairs and other critical health care equipment.
“After several days of being without power they start to lose the ability to get around to support healthcare needs so the intent with this trailer to have some bridge for the gap that starts to get created when the main power grid is out,” said Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo.
Joines said the city is also working to convert streetlights to LED lights to further reduce energy costs.
“We are cooperating or collaborating with Duke Energy to change over about 28,000 street lights. That will be a huge saving for us as well,” Joines said.
Fire officials said solar panels have been installed at Station 19, with stations 10 and 11 expected to be completed this summer.
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