BoxPower Microgrids Provide Wildfire Mitigation Options

GRASS VALLEY, CA / AGILITYPR.NEWS / September 15, 2020 / BoxPower Selected by Liberty Utilities for Innovative Remote Microgrid Project:

Microgrids Provide Wildfire Mitigation Option

GRASS VALLEY, California, September 15, 2020— BoxPower has been selected by Liberty Utilities to bring an innovative microgrid solution to a remote mountain research station. This project will save millions of dollars by replacing high fire-risk distribution lines with a containerized solar+storage microgrid.

The project is the result of a request-for-offers issued by Liberty Utilities for a wildfire-mitigation solution that would avoid costly replacement of transmission lines serving Berkeley University’s Sagehen Creek Field Station in the Central Sierra Nevada, north of Truckee, California.

"We are thrilled to showcase the potential and cost effectiveness of BoxPower's technology in a utility application,” BoxPower cofounder and CFO Anderson Barkow observes. “Non-wired alternatives will be a strong part of the future energy mix for utilities as the cost of maintaining, hardening, and building lines continues to increase, while the cost of microgrids continues to decrease. Utility sales are a major piece of BoxPower's vision with a portfolio of similar projects currently in the works."

The 20-kW, 68-KWh system will use renewable propane for back-up. The site presented unique engineering challenges, requiring alterations for the area’s heavy snowfall and a climate controlled BoxPower container. This also marks the first project for BoxPower, a fast-rising small company in the microgrid space, in its home county of Nevada County. BoxPower describes itself as “unboxing the new era of distributed energy resource management.” Previous projects include disaster relief in Puerto Rico and remote medical clinics.

It would have cost Liberty Utilities about $3 million to harden the 4-mile distribution line that serves the Sagehen Creek Field Station. BoxPower’s solar/battery system with propane back-up will allow the utility de-energize the lines in summer, and eventually year-round, allowing the lines to be permanently de-energized at approximately a quarter of the cost, a savings of over $2 million dollars.

In partnership with New Sun Road, the system includes real-time monitoring, remote diagnostics, automated alert and reporting. This complete site management tool also enables peak demand reduction, time-of-use optimization, data consolidation and aggregation for resale, as well as virtual power plant (VPP) capabilities.

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About BoxPower, Inc.

BoxPower is a mission-driven social enterprise helping communities, governments, businesses, humanitarian and emergency relief agencies provide energy resilience when power supply from the grid is unavailable or unreliable. BoxPower is located in Grass Valley, CA, and employee-owned.

BoxPower’s modular microgrid systems deliver reliable and renewable power. All of BoxPower’s products are pre-engineered to guarantee 100% reliable power under the most demanding conditions: from tropical storms to arctic snow loads, BoxPower systems are the toughest on the market. 

Unlike traditional renewable energy projects, which often span 6-12 months from initiation to completion, BoxPower products ship within 30 days of ordering, and install on-site in a single day. By pre-assembling and mass-producing our systems in shipping containers, we can control cost, lead time, and logistics.

BoxPower is proud to help to deliver clean, affordable, reliable energy access to established and emerging markets around the world. BoxPower’s work has been featured in Fast Company, GreenBiz, and Microgrid Knowledge. BoxPower’s CEO and cofounder, Angelo Campus, was recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 listmaker for 2019.