Former border wall shipping containers now solar-powered cooling centers

Two shipping containers have been transformed into solar-powered cooling centers near downtown Phoenix.

Why it matters: The centers are part of Gov. Katie Hobbs' plan to provide more respite from the dangerous heat following last summer's historically hot and deadly weather.

The intrigue: The shipping containers were previously used by former Gov. Doug Ducey as a quasi border wall in 2022.

• Ducey agreed to take down the containers in January 2023, days before he left office.
• Hobbs later auctioned some of them and sold others to government entities and nonprofits.

State of play: The state is using federal funds to repurpose some of the remaining containers into 18 cooling facilities.

• The first two opened to the public earlier this month at 19th Avenue and Adams Street and at 16th Avenue and Jefferson Street.
• The Arizona Faith Network will operate them as cooling centers from 8am to 8pm through September, according to the governor's office.

Zoom in: These containers were designed and constructed by Steel + Spark, the Phoenix company behind the shipping-container homeless shelters that debuted at St. Vincent de Paul last year.

Zoom out: The other 16 cooling containers will be deployed across the state "over time," including at five state prisons, the governor's office told Axios.