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FastCompany
“This single shipping container can start powering a small renewable grid in less than a day”
Inside a shipping container currently en route to a school in Puerto Rico, a solar microgrid is ready for deployment: As soon as the container arrives, the system, from a startup called BoxPower, can be assembled and begin providing power in less than a day.
The system, designed for use both immediately after disasters and to make communities more resilient to future disasters, is easy to rapidly install. “We jokingly call ourselves the Ikea of microgrids because there is some assembly required, but it is color-coded, pre-cut, and pre-drilled,” says Angelo Campus, CEO and founder of California-based BoxPower. “And anyone who can assemble an Ikea dresser can assemble our solar array on top of the container. It doesn’t require any heavy equipment or machinery.”
The first product fits inside a standard 20-foot shipping container, so it can easily be transported. Inside, there are solar panels and racks, along with a prewired battery, inverter, and a backup generator that runs on fossil fuels, so it can still be used if there’s ever a series of cloudy days and the battery runs low. “You get all the same reliability and consistency of having a generator but with an 80 or 90% fuel and therefore operating cost reduction,” Campus says.
The system can provide around 50 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or enough to power three or four homes or an energy-intensive business, the company says. If a disaster is imminent—such as a hurricane that might cause debris to fly into the solar panels—the whole system can be quickly disassembled and packed back inside the shipping container.
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Turnkey microgrid-plus storage systems have been having a moment in the wake of the California utilities’ recent public safety power shutoffs.
“After two weeks of outages and utility shutoffs, many businesses have had to shut their doors because of cash flow issues or because they lost their inventory at a critical time of the year,” said Angelo Campus, founder and CEO of BoxPower, a startup that makes pre-engineered microgrid plus storage systems that can be dispatched and stored in shipping containers.
More climate-vulnerable companies no longer see small and medium-sized microgrids as a “nice thing to have,” but something that they need to have, he said. BoxPower is in the market with two turnkey microgrid solutions plus storage products, one that relies solely on solar power and another that uses solar power and natural gas.
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Homer Microgrid News 07/14/19
In an effort to bring clean energy to remote customers at affordable prices, the California-based company BoxPower has been standardizing and continuing to refine designs for small-scale power systems that can fit into a container. BoxPower engineer Michele Nesbit says “we’re social impact-focused, so designing cost-effective systems is a key motivation for us.” She says the company is currently providing container-packaged microgrids and renewable energy systems to remote native communities in Alaska and areas in Puerto Rico that are still recovering from Hurricane Maria. BoxPower also sells its systems to anyone who needs an off-grid or mobile power supply, and customers include a California summer camp, a group of protestors temporarily occupying a piece of land, and a solar water pumping system in Hawaii.
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The containerized solar system was provided by BoxPower Inc., a California energy company specializing in rapidly deployable solar and battery systems for rural energy projects and disaster relief. BoxPower Inc. is a participant in the Launch Alaska business accelerator, which introduces innovative infrastructure companies to the Alaskan market, as was demonstrated in Buckland.
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Forbes 11/1/18
Buckland’s Solar Arrays Highlight Potential of Renewable Energy in Rural Alaska
SWAMC 10/25/18
The northwest village of Buckland has put three new solar arrays online in pursuit of lower utility costs. Buckland, like the majority of rural Alaska, has depended on diesel for much of its electricity generation. While that will likely continue to be the case, a battery system planned for next year coupled with an existing wind turbine installation will expand the role of renewables in the community.
The project was supported by the US Department of Energy as well as Northwest Alaska Native Association. Buckland is on its own energy grid, making integration of renewables especially straightforward. Much of the cost was covered through grants.
The equipment was purchased from a California company, BoxPower, which sells complete solar power stations that fit inside shipping containers. Residents are hopeful that these arrays will lower their cost of living as well as curb worries about future price spikes of diesel and heating fuel.
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New Solar Incentive in Massachusetts…Tecogen to Install School Microgrid…Launch Alaska Deadline Near
Microgrid Knowledge 9/27/18
Under the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART), a project under 5 MW receives an incentive from the utility company. SMART replaces the existing solar renewable energy credit program.
The state expects SMART to support an additional 1,600 MW of solar. This addition would make solar 10 percent of the electricity used in the state.
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Alaska’s supply chain was precarious even before melting permafrost and Arctic ice put the state on the front lines of climate change.Tiny Power: Hybrid Microgrid Aids Rural Puerto Rico, Alaskan Arctic
Efficient Gov 7/28/18
According to a recent article in Microgrid Knowledge, an abandoned school being used as a community center in rural Mariana, Puerto Rico, is being powered with a hybrid microgrid kit manufactured and shipped by California-based BoxPower to Proyecto de Apoyo Mutuo (Mutual Aid Project).
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Entreprenuer.com 7/26/18
We met with its 25-year-old founder, Angelo Campus. Angelo has developed a mobile solar power plant with batteries, back up and software all packed in a self-contained shipping container. He has one in operation in Puerto Rico, one in Upstate New York and is shipping three more to a customer in Alaska this month. He also has Letters of Intent for several more Alaskan projects next summer! Unlike similar solutions that take five to ten employees two to three weeks to install, BoxPower can be assembled and producing power within four hours!
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Forbes 7/26/18
With this kit, you can set up a solar-powered microgrid
Yale Climate Connections 6/18/18
So a company called BoxPower shipped solar panels, batteries, and a backup generator to power a café, laundromat, and community center there. But unlike most renewable energy systems, this one snapped together almost like Legos – with no engineers or electricians needed.
Campus: “If you can put together an Ikea bed-frame you can probably put together our microgrid system.”
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Microgrid Knowledge 6/11/18
A microgrid like an IKEA set…
Multiple containerized systems can be linked together to meet a load of any size, connected to the main grid, or working independently in island mode.
The BoxPower system’s solar panels can be removed and stored inside the container to prevent damage during extreme weather conditions. Members of the community, who were involved in the installation of the system, are fully trained on how to dismantle it if needed.
In this scenario, the energy management system would turn on the diesel generator, also housed inside the shipping container, to provide the center’s critical load.
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El barrio Mariana de Humacao estrena sistema de energía solar
Walo Radio 5/27/18
El ingeniero y CEO de BoxPower, Angelo Campus, diseñó un sistema de energía modular que se puede trasladar y montar en cualquier lugar en menos de 24 horas.
La directora de la Asociación Recreativa, Educativa y Comunal de Mariana y, también, cofundadora de Proyecto Apoyo Mutuo (PAM) de Humacao, Christine Nieves junto al ingeniero explicaron los detalles sobre este proyecto de energía sustentable que impactará a más de 3,200 personas de la comunidad.
El uso de microrredes y el almacenamiento de energía permiten que los días sin sol el sistema genere electricidad por 72 horas.
Este proyecto comunitario está ubicado específicamente en la escuela Juan de Dios López de Humacao donde ofrecerá el servicio de lavandería, café, galería de arte, servicios legales y hospedería.
What’s in the box? — BoxPower Inc., CEO, Angelo Campus is on a mission to bring renewable & environmentally-sustainable energy to the world
Nevada Union 3/18/18
A Grass Valley man is on a mission to help solve the energy poverty crisis.
Angelo Campus is the founder and CEO of BoxPower Inc., which is quite literally power in a box. The renewable energy startup company provides off-grid communities with affordable, portable microgrid infrastructures in shipping containers.
Princeton Grads’ Energy Startup Provides Power To Native Americans Protesting Oil Pipeline
Forbes 10/12/17
