KGW attends the ROSE Port dedication ceremony for their Good Energy segment highlighting RoseVilla’s solar-powered resilient hub. Click Here to view the segment on the KGW website.
Good Energy: Powering senior resilience at RoseVilla
PORTLAND, Ore. — A burned-down garage at RoseVilla Senior Living has sparked something unexpected: the launch of a long-term resiliency plan designed to keep residents safe, powered, and supplied during a disaster.
The southeast Portland retirement community unveiled its first-ever ROSE Port, an earthquake-resilient structure designed to generate solar power, store backup electricity, and convert rainwater into drinkable water if traditional utilities fail.
CEO Glen Lewis says the destruction of the old garage pushed the project into motion: “When that happened, we ultimately decided that now was the time to build our first rose port in the face of this challenge that happened with the garage being burnt down.”
The ROSE Port is the first major milestone in RoseVilla’s 25-year Resiliency Action Plan — an effort to prepare for earthquakes, major storms, or prolonged power outages. One of the structure’s most critical features sits underground: a water system designed to produce clean drinking water for days if the main supply is compromised.
Image Credit: KGW
“At full capacity we have 3,100 gallons of potential drinking water for our campus, which is enough drinking water for our resident population for up to 7 days,” Lewis said.
For residents, that redundancy feels essential. Many still remember a week-long winter outage two years ago and how close they came to losing vital medical devices.
“If we hadn’t had that and without the Rose Port it would have been a lot more difficult, especially for seniors who need things like CPAP machines,” said resident and Ready Force team member Steve Morris. “Those are pretty important medical devices. So this is a really important addition to our sort of assets for resilience.”
Morris said the value is in the full system working together. “It’s a really interesting collection of technology… all the different aspects that had to come into play to make that all play together.”
Residents welcomed the opening with relief. “We need more of them, but this is a great first step,” Morris said.
RoseVilla plans to build at least two more ROSE Ports within five years and hopes the model spreads to senior communities across Oregon.
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