During and after a hurricane, power outages are common. But one place where a power outage in the aftermath of a hurricane could potentially do the most damage is at the hurricane response center—the place community residents depend on when they lack access to drinking water, food, and shelter due to being displaced by the storm.

So how does a hurricane response center ensure it will have power after a raging storm? Why, solar power of course.

The South Bay Communities Alliance (SBCA) Hurricane Response Center in the Gulf Coast community of Coden, Ala., which was formed by Gulf Coast residents after Hurricane Katrina, knows firsthand how detrimental it can be to lose power after a storm.

Members of the SBCA lacked access to food, water, and power in the days and weeks after that massive storm. They vowed to never have that happen again and knew to accomplish that, the center must have a reliable power source to depend upon during an outage.

Thanks to a collaboration between Elon Musk via the Musk Foundation and SolarCity, solar panels and a battery back-up system were installed on the SBCA building to ensure the center could produce its own power—and continue serving people in need—in the event of a power outage.

Musk provided the funding for the project and SolarCity designed and installed the system at cost. The 25-kilowatt solar power system is one of the largest in the state of Alabama, with 108 solar panels expected to produce an estimated 33,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which should offset between 90 and 100 percent of the Center’s electricity use.

“SolarCity serves Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas as of today, but we didn’t want to be limited to our existing service areas; we merely wanted to find the most deserving recipient we could,” said Nina Oestlien, PR manager for SolarCity. “The gift is obviously a very small thing in the context of the Gulf communities’ overall struggle to recover from the spill, but we hoped it could bring some attention to the region and perhaps show the area’s residents and leaders a path to cleaner power options.”

Image courtesy of SolarCity.