POWERBASE
LOW-EMISSION POWER SUPPLY FOR EMERGENCY SHELTERS AND BASES OF OPERATIONS
Recent disasters like the cross-border flooding in Central/Eastern Europe, the wildfires in Greece, and the earthquake in Turkey have led to large-scale emergency rescue operations. As critical infrastructure is often damaged, emergency responders rely on mobile diesel generators for mobile energy supply while setting up emergency shelters and bases of operation. The use of diesel leads to greenhouse gas emissions: E.g. during the Turkey/Syria earthquakes in February 2023, 25,000 emergency responders were deployed for search and rescue missions lasting approximately 10 days. For this, the necessary bases of operation needed ~3,500,000 L of diesel and produced an estimated ~9250 t of CO₂ emission. Further, these generators lower air quality in the direct vicinity, produce heat, vibrations, and sounds, and pose safety threats for the emergency responders and sheltered people. Currently, there is no operational technology for green, mobile power supply that meets the needs of emergency responders.
POWERBASE aims to address this technology gap and provide the basis for future procurement of promising renewable energy technologies by emergency response organisations. Working from an end-user perspective, POWERBASE will analyse the needs of emergency operations for different disaster situations, including wildfires in very hot climatic conditions, cross-border flooding with a high number of displaced people, and an earthquake scenario in a rural mountainous region. The project will also map the available technologies and potential new innovations, which can meet these needs in future. This will help emergency response organisations to bridge this gap and channel the investment in low-emission, reliable, self-sufficient, mobile power supply for emergency shelters and bases of operation.
POWERBASE is supported by the EU in the framework of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme with € 1 million. The project started on 1 Oct 2024 and will end on 30 Sep 2025.
POWERBASE
Coordinator
BUNDESANSTALT TECHNISCHES HILFSWERK, Germany
Participants
- OSTERREICHISCHES ROTES KREUZ, Austria
- MYNDIGHETEN FOR SAMHALLSSKYDD OCH BEREDSKAP, Sweden
- MINISTERE DE L’INTERIEUR, France
- MINISTERO DELL’INTERNO, Italy
- MAGYAR MALTAI SZERETETSZOLGALAT EGYESULET, Hungary
- ASOCIACIA SAMARITANOV SLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY, Slovakia
- OPENBAAR LICHAAM GEZAMENLIJKE BRANDWEER, Netherlands
- FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV, Germany
- KENTRO MELETON ASFALEIAS, Greece
- VIEIRA, COSTA GOMES, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL, Portugal
- ARTTIC INNOVATION GMBH, Germany
