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Standalone Power Systems Help Utilities Meet California’s Clean Energy Goals

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BoxPower’s home state of California produces more renewable electricity than any other state in the nation. Much of the state’s leadership in this realm is due to ambitious energy policy – and the industry’s vigorous response to the standards that state lawmakers have enacted.

California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program was established in 2002 with the initial requirement that 20 percent of electricity retail sales must be served by renewable resources by 2017. Since then, the program has been updated four times with increasingly ambitious timelines and benchmarks. Most recently, in 2018 California SB100 increased the RPS to 60 percent by 2030 and requires all the state’s electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2045.

California’s RPS is among the most progressive clean energy mandates in the country, and by some important metrics, the state is on track to meet its goals. PG&E, California’s largest public investor-owned utility (IOU), well surpassed the state’s goal to deliver 33 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020, ultimately delivering over 88 percent energy derived from greenhouse gas-free sources. The majority of this renewable electricity comes from solar.

BoxPower is proud to be among the earliest designers and manufacturers of solar standalone power systems to partner with California utilities, and BoxPower solutions can continue to play an important role in the state’s transition to clean energy.

Learn more about BoxPower solutions for utilities

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For many of the customers these IOUs serve, renewable electricity comes from large-scale solar farms, which are an ideal application for densely populated areas. For a state in which 94 percent of the population lives in urban areas, this will continue to be the most efficient means of generating and delivering clean energy to the largest number of consumers.

However, BoxPower is an ideal solution for rural, remote on-site power generation for utilities. Our recent projects with PG&E and Liberty Utilities are projected to deliver 90 and 97 percent renewable electricity to their rural service areas, respectively. Projects like these present a cost-effective renewable energy solution for IOUs that seek to deliver on California’s clean energy mandates in the state’s low-population areas.

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BoxPower microgrids are an attractive solution when large-scale solar systems and traditional wires-and-poles infrastructure are not suitable. When rapidly deployable, fire-safe power is needed in rough terrain or remote locations, BoxPower standalone power systems are a valuable distributed energy resource for IOUs (as well as critical facilities and off-grid commercial customers) to have in their toolbox.

As a means of diversifying energy resources, grid stabilizing, and pushing for increased renewable energy, BoxPower looks forward to continuing to provide industry-leading solar power and battery storage systems to utilities and other customers in remote settings.

California’s Largest Utility Turns to BoxPower for Fire Mitigation Solution

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In 2019, the Briceburg Fire burned over 5,000 acres in California’s Mariposa County. The fire damaged miles of PG&E’s power distribution lines, disrupting electrical service to the unincorporated community of Briceburg. Rather than rebuild the damaged power lines, PG&E is working with BoxPower to replace them with a solar + battery standalone power system.

The remote grid will support PG&E in its wildfire mitigation and energy resilience efforts in the face of escalating fire risk across the state. Set for completion in April 2021, the integrated solar, battery, and generator system will be the first operational remote grid for California’s largest investor-owned utility.

 

In addition to reducing wildfire risk, on-site power improves energy resilience. Briceburg’s residents will no longer be vulnerable to Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events. Additionally, the community will benefit from reduced carbon emissions since the solar with propane backup system supplies nearly 90 percent renewable energy.

The Briceburg project is one of the first remote grid installations PG&E is undertaking as part of its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which the company submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission in February. The utility has identified the potential for several hundred eventual remote grid installations across the state.

Briceburg is an ideal test case for PG&E to explore renewable standalone power systems: a small community located at the end of a long set of distribution lines that once ran through forested terrain. The on-site power system will eliminate much of the line maintenance and vegetation management costs while also mitigating the risk of electrical-sparked fires.

Learn more about the PG&E Briceburg project

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The remote grid system — designed, installed, and operated by BoxPower — includes:

  • A solar array with nominal PV power of 36.5kW
  • 69.12 kWh lithium ferro phosphate battery bank
  • 27.2kW of continuous power output; surge capacity up to 48kW
  • Two integrated 35 kVA propane power generators for backup
  • Fire suppression system 
  • Remote monitoring, reporting, and automated fuel delivery capabilities

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BoxPower is looking forward to continuing our work with investor-owned utilities.

“It’s exciting to be working in this new area of utility-owned remote power systems, and even more so to be actively striving to protect California from devastating wildfires. We are thrilled to be working on a solution that can lead to a more sustainable, resilient, and safe electric distribution system.”

–Angelo Campus, founder and CEO of BoxPower

Powering an Emergency Shelter for 25 Unhoused Families in San Jose

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BoxPower’s home state of California has struggled to address the needs of its unhoused residents in recent decades. With over 150,000 unhoused individuals, the state has the largest homeless population in the United States.

BoxPower is proud to take part in a pilot project in San Jose, where we are providing electricity for an emergency shelter for unhoused families in Santa Clara County, where the homelessness crisis has been particularly acute. The most recent Santa Clara County Homeless Census and Survey (2019), found 9,706 individuals experiencing homelessness, a 31 percent increase from just two years prior, and the highest number in over a decade.

The project, a 100-bed shelter community called Casitas de Esperanza — Spanish for Tiny Homes of Hope — is located outside the old San Jose City Hall, and will provide temporary shelter for families as a stepping stone to permanent housing. The project is coordinated and funded by Santa Clara County, and managed by Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment.

Powering a Shelter Community for Unhoused Families in San Jose

Over the course of two weeks, Santa Clara County coordinated the installation of 25 Pallet Shelters for unhoused families in San Jose. The community will be powered by two BoxPower solar energy microgrid systems. Building a traditional facility on this site would have taken years.

To build the units, the County contracted Pallet Shelter, a Seattle-based social purpose company on a mission to build equal opportunity access to housing and employment. Pallet Shelter’s easy-to-install homes provide safe and dignified housing communities for people experiencing homelessness, and more broadly allow for scalable, rapidly deployable solutions for counties and cities.

The Casitas de Esperanza community in San Jose, California houses 25 families.

Santa Clara County contracted BoxPower to solve for the lack of reliable utility power available at the site. BoxPower’s solar with propane backup solution fully powers each of the individual shelters, which include heating, air conditioning, charging outlets, and lights. The rapidly deployable microgrid consists of two east-west solar arrays with 22kW PV each, 266kWh LiFePO4 battery storage, and two 35kW propane generators.

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BoxPower’s microgrid offers a more cost-effective energy solution than powering the site exclusively with generators, the default approach for similar projects. Traditional generators would have cost the County thousands of dollars each month in fuel and operating expenses.

Crucially, the containerized solar and battery storage systems will also lead to greatly improved air quality conditions for Casitas de Esperanza, where some of the County’s most vulnerable populations might otherwise have to contend with the negative health effects of carbon monoxide from constant generator usage. We anticipate that the community will be fully solar-powered during the summer months, while in the winter months, the propane generator will kick in to support the power load during the shorter days.

Projections of when the generator will run (green) vs solar (orange).

BoxPower provided a rapidly deployable power solution for the community, when electrifying the site by extending the grid would have taken a minimum of six to eight months at great expense to the County. And because of the modular nature of both BoxPower’s and Pallet Shelter’s contributions to the community, when the project reaches the end of its anticipated stay of two to five years at this location, it can be easily packed up and moved to the next location. 

As a social enterprise that believes energy is essential, BoxPower is proud to bring clean, affordable energy to traditionally underserved communities around the country.

Learn more about the Pallet Shelter project

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California Utilities Look to Standalone Power Systems for Rural Customers

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BoxPower’s recent installation of a solar power and battery storage system for Liberty Utilities puts the company at the forefront of an emergent industry trend: California utilities considering renewable standalone power systems as an alternative to traditional power lines in remote areas.

Rural electrification has been a mainstay of our business from the beginning. Our containerized standalone power systems provide clean, reliable, affordable energy in remote corners of California, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Until recently, we’ve primarily installed non wires alternatives for individuals and small communities, rather than investor-owned utilities — a trend that is true of the microgrid industry at large.

BoxPower’s partnership with Liberty Utilities on the Sagehen remote grid project is a promising development, and there is good reason to believe that this could be a watershed moment for the way utilities operate. 

BoxPower Microgrid Provides Energy Resilience for California Wildfire Season

When Liberty Utilities was researching wildfire mitigation options for one of its remote customers, it selected BoxPower as its solution. BoxPower’s integrated solar, battery, and generator microgrid now provides clean, reliable energy during wildfire season.

Why are California utilities looking to remote grids now? On the one hand, solar power and battery storage systems like BoxPower’s offer immediate cost savings over expensive line upgrades and maintenance when serving small loads.

At the same time, solar standalone power systems offer unique advantages over traditional wires and poles infrastructure in rural areas. Making the switch can help utilities:

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with California SB100’s path to 100% renewable electricity by 2045
  • Mitigate the risk of transmission-sparked wildfires (at least 17 of the 21 major Northern California wildfires in 2017 were caused by utility equipment, according to Cal Fire)
  • Increase energy resilience for communities prone to Public Safety Power Shutoffs as part of wildfire mitigation plans

 

In its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, PG&E, California’s largest utility, identified “the technology combination of solar photovoltaic generation and battery energy storage with supplemental propane generators as the most cost-effective, reliable, and cleanest solution for initial remote grid sites.”

It is hard to overstate the paradigm shift this innovative approach could represent for investor-owned utilities. Historically, PG&E and other utilities have served all customers in essentially the same way: electricity is generated centrally at a power plant and sent out to homes and businesses through the grid. While this system works well for densely populated urban areas, serving small, remote populations through the grid is relatively costly in comparison.

With worsening wildfires in California and across the West, utility companies can reduce costs, mitigate wildfire risk, and increase energy resilience with the continued adoption of renewable non wires alternatives in rural areas.

Continued successful contracts with utility companies can help BoxPower scale our mission of bringing clean, reliable, and affordable energy to underserved communities.

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BoxPower in 2020: Annual Recap

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GRASS VALLEY, California — Despite the twists and challenges of 2020, the BoxPower team was extremely grateful to continue its trajectory of growth this year. Our support networks, customers, advisors, and hardworking team members have been invaluable in supporting us through this difficult year. The next few paragraphs outline our efforts and achievements in 2020, and look ahead to 2021. 

BoxPower’s dedicated team has allowed its microgrid products to produce a real shift in energy utilization and demonstrated significant measurable results.

Metric2020Lifetime (All Projects)
kWh Generated1,001,952 kWHr18,372,459  kWh
CO2 Offset852,043 lbs26,307,921 lbs
Gallons of Diesel Offset36,109 gal830,598 gal
Individuals Impacted2,370 people4,300 people

We installed 15 new projects this year. Some were in familiar sectors, including hurricane resilience projects in Puerto Rico and indigenous electrification projects in Alaska. BoxPower also pioneered new markets, including the medical sector and the wildfire prevention sector.

BoxPower system at U.C. Berkeley’s Sagehen Research Facility, near Truckee, CA.

Our projects in the medical sector focused on providing life saving resiliency  to hospitals with unreliable energy access. Our largest project in this sector was for the MCHC (Mendocino Community Health Clinic), a low-income medical center in rural Northern California. This project followed a 2-year streak of lengthy and costly power outages at MCHC. Between PSPS events and fire damages to power lines, MCHC had lost over $400,000 in revenue and equipment during a single fire season; additionally, without a critical baseline of power, MCHC cannot effectively serve its neediest patients. BoxPower designed a 290 kW solar + 464kwH  storage microgrid to save $85,000 in annual utility bills and meet MCHC’s critical power demand during outages, ensuring that the facility can perform essential duties during grid instability. 

Our projects in the wildfire prevention sector focused on reducing the risk presented by wire-and-pole electric transmission lines. Above-ground transmission lines are a leading cause of wildfires in the American west, with hot and dry climate conditions increasing their ability to initiate fires. The Sagehen Research Station project serves a remote wildlife research facility north of Truckee, CA. Sagehen’s electricity was previously provided by several miles of electric transmission lines that pass through dense pine forest. During the summer, these lines were a severe wildfire risk and were frequently shut off. Although de-energizing these lines eliminates fire risk, it leaves the research facility without power. “Fire hardening” these transmission lines would significantly decrease fire risk; however, this is a very costly and time-intensive process. Instead of spending millions of dollars hardening their lines, the electric utility decided to purchase a BoxPower solar + storage + propane hybrid microgrid. Now, the research station will rely solely on BoxPower’s system during the wildfire season. 

BoxPower system at Pilot Point Grocery, in Pilot Point, Alaska.

Additional notable projects included a resilience hub at a school in Guayama, Puerto Rico, a grocery store in the remote indigenous community of Pilot Point, and a 100 bed shelter for those displaced by COVID-19 in Santa Clara County. The Guayama system provided 24/7 reliability for the entire community during multiple 2020 outages, while the Pilot Point project will enable the grocery store to lower prices to rural customers by 5% due to the energy savings. BoxPower anticipates continued growth in the medical and wildfire prevention sectors during 2021 with megawatts of projects in the pipeline. Our hybrid microgrids are finding invaluable solutions to safe, reliable, clean and affordable production. As predicted by Angelo Campus,  BoxPower CEO, “As outages and distribution costs increase across the country and world, the value of a microgrid is increasing rapidly. This combined with the decreasing cost of inputs will cause the microgrid adoption to skyrocket.” We are grateful for a fruitful 2020, and look forward to continued growth and exploration in the year to come. 

BoxPower Awarded California Energy Commission Grant

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GRASS VALLEY, California, October 6, 2020—BoxPower, a provider of modular microgrid energy solutions, has been awarded a $1.2 million dollar grant by the California Energy Commission to further develop its software + hardware solution at 15 microgrid test sites in a diverse range of residential settings across California.

This three-year project under the designation of California Title 24 Advanced Power Utilization Technology, will provide critical insights into energy cost reduction strategies and increased energy resiliency. BoxPower’s work alongside partner, Evergreen Innovations, will seek to drive cost reductions, open new cash flow opportunities for batteries. reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and measure non-energy societal benefits, such as resiliency.

The key issue is the uncertainty of how a microgrid battery asset can be used to cover the initial investment. In the multi-megawatt commercial energy storage space, the latest business models provide multiple cash flow streams for batteries. For example, a battery can optimize financial return by using power stored in the battery during the most expensive time of use rate. Additional cash flow opportunities include frequency regulation and trading in multiple electricity markets.

Angelo Campus, BoxPower CEO and Co-founder notes, “This project is a significant step in California microgrid adoption. We will collect concrete data and identify the best options for developing residential microgrid use and industry standards.”

Customers in the past have used BoxPower’s modular microgrids in disaster relief, medical clinic, agriculture, remote power, and most recently, utility applications. This experience working with utilities will enable BoxPower to bring utility representatives into the research and testing process, ensuring the resulting solution works for all stakeholders.

Utilities have historically been expensive and unreliable in rural areas. BoxPower’s innovative approach to software design and process improvement combined with turnkey hardware and installation methods creates a repeatable and cost effective microgrid. BoxPower and the California Energy Commission look forward to partnering on this project to modernize the California utility grid. Microgrids are part of a move away from large-scale one-size fits all solutions to modern microservice architectures.

Modern Microservice Energy Solutions Offer:

●    Distributed control

●    Scalability of control

●    Interactions between grid stakeholders in ways not previously possible

●    Utility, operator and user interfaces

Watch for more news on microgrids as BoxPower begins work on this important California Energy Commission Project.

About the California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission is transforming buildings through standards and programs for newly constructed and existing buildings. Learn more about the Energy Commission’s building energy efficiency standards, benchmarking programs, efficiency for existing buildings, and resources on how to comply at https://www.energy.ca.gov.

About BoxPower, Inc.

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

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 list maker for 2019. Learn more at BoxPower.io or contact Anderson Barkow co-founder and CFO at anderson@BoxPower.io or Dalan Angelo Director, Business Development at Dalan@BoxPower.io 530-802-5477.

BoxPower Microgrid Proves to be Ideal Solution for California Utility

BoxPower Microgrid Proves to be Ideal Solution for California Utility

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When a California-based electric utility was researching wildfire mitigation options to harden a transmission line serving one of its customers, it selected Grass Valley, California-based BoxPower and its ground-breaking solar+storage container systems.

Liberty Utilities, a regulated utility with about 50,000 customers on the West side of Lake Tahoe, was investigating making  upgrades such as installing covered conductors to its transmission lines that run through a mountainous area to a remote research station operated by University of California, Berkeley. But after running a cost and feasibility analysis, it realized it would be better to de-energize the line during wildfire season and instead utilize a BoxPower containerized solar/storage system.

“We were looking to make certain upgrades to target our transmission lines for wildfire season,” Amanda Chee, Liberty Utilities Program Manager, Capital Administration and Planning, said. “In the process of developing the project for the line, we realized that this could have been a very expensive project.” It would have cost about $3 million to harden the entire 4-mile line, which has 90 poles and serves Berkeley’s Sagehen Creek Field Station. BoxPower’s solar/battery system with propane back-up will allow the utility de-energize the lines in summer, according to Chee. This results in over $2 million dollars in lifetime savings for the utility.

BoxPower’s experience in the area and dealing with remote environments helped steer Liberty toward the company, she said, adding that grading and foundation work in the remote area would have been difficult and costly. BoxPower was chosen over “numerous bidders” responding to a Request for Offers it issued earlier this year after identifying the need in early 2020. Ground was broken September 8th on the project, which is due to go operational in October.

“We are trying to go against wildfire season, time is of the essence,” Chee said.

It Only Takes a Spark: Enhancing DWP's Wildfire Prevention Strategy – Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin

The project required a unique approach due to its location in a remote area of the Sierra Nevada that gets large amounts of snow in winter, according to Michele Nesbit, BoxPower Co-Founder and COO.

“Beyond what we just do normally, there was some design constraints that made this rather unique,” Nesbit said.  The 20-kW, 68-KWh system will use propane back-up, but is projected to be 97% renewable. The location has a climate-controlled container design and a load rating of 375 pounds per square foot of snow. BoxPower made small modifications to its standard design increasing tilt to a 60-degree angle so the snow won’t pile up mounted with eight-food clearance from the ground. This is also the first for BoxPower in its home county of Nevada County, “so we’re rather excited about that,” she said. The BoxPower system will prevent the need to inspect the lines during fire season and eventually eliminate the need for them altogether once more generation is put into place, she said.

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.

Lindsay Maruncic, Liberty’s Senior Manager, Renewable Energy, said Berkeley was “100 percent” on-board with the microgrid. “They have been so incredibly cooperative with the project. They have even been involved with the design conversation we had. We really couldn’t ask for a better partner in this project,” she said, adding that the U.S. Forest Service was very accepting and “it’s been a great team.”

An online virtual tour of the site has been posted, which was greatly beneficial during the project development because it avoided the need for on-site visits. That innovative approach is just one more way the Sagehen project developers are using the benefits of technology to substantially reduce costs and complexities, resulting in an ultimately safer and more reliable way to meet the needs of customers.

BoxPower Residential Microgrid Increases Rural Hawaii’s Sustainability

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A lava flows emerging from the elongated fissure in Pahoa (USGS)

Kīlauea Erupts

On May 3, 2018, quiet island life changed radically for those in the Puna District of the Big Island of Hawaii. The 2018 lower Puna eruption on the island of Hawaii on Kīlauea volcano’s East Rift Zone began on May 3, 2018, then on May 4, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Puna. This eruption evolved into 24 fissures, forcing the evacuation of 2000 residents. The Puna Geothermal Venture, which provided one-quarter of the island’s electricity, was forced to shut down and was later damaged by lava. The fissures had sent lava rivers that buried part of Hawaii Route 137 on May 19, and began flowing into the ocean. On May 29, lava from a new northeastern flow overran Hawaii Route 132, cutting the access between Kapoho and Pahoa. 

After months of uncertainty and devastation, on December 5, 2018, the volcano eruption ended.

Roads, power and services were interrupted and needed to be re-established. For many who had only vaguely considered solar or microgrids, this became a real concern for survival and sustainability in Hawaii’s fragile and volatile environment.

In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, lava from a fissure slowly rolls down the street on Saturday near Pahoa, Hawaii after the eruption of the Kilauea volcano

Rebuilding with Sustainable Energy Supply

Longtime Pahoa resident Wendy contacted BoxPower in 2019. Wendy’s situation was not unique: she had been looking for an off-grid solar + battery solution for her home on the Big Island of Hawaii for several years, but no one had been able to meet her exact requirements.

Wendy’s home is one of the many in the Pahoa region of Hawaii that lack access to electricity, due to a combination of their remote location and the intermittent flows of lava from the nearby Kīlauea Volcano, as well as tropical storms. Wendy was using a generator for her primary source of power since building her home in the early 2000s, spending on average $300-500 per month on gasoline to power her home, and attached home-office. (This gasoline is shipped to Hawaii, adding significant transportation costs and energy use.)

Boxpower’s Plug and Play Microgrid

BoxPower was able to offer the options needed to make a microgrid part of Wendy’s sustainable energy solution. In July 2019, BoxPower Inc. was contracted to design, build, and deploy a palletized solar + storage system to power Wendy’s off-grid home and home-office in Pahoa, Hawaii.

Boxpower designed a system to meet her needs and constructed it in California. This was then shipped to the Big Island and installed on -site in a single day by Wendy herself, following Boxpower’s detailed instructions.

Boxpower’s system consisted of a 21kWh lithium ferro phosphate battery system, and 12kW AC-coupled battery inverter pre-wired inside of a 4’ x 8’ palletized metal enclosure, with a 3.5kW solar PV array mounted on top.

This system was designed to connect to a back-up gasoline generator, and to be expandable with an additional ground-mount or roof-top array, adding the flexibility that was needed to fully adapt this rural tropical environment.

As Wendy’s power needs grew, she chose to increase her capabilities at home and given the ease of adding to BoxPower’s system, Wendy added an additional 4kW ground-mount PV array, bringing the total system PV capacity to 7.5kW.

Energy Savings + Increased Security

This palletized solar + battery system now saves Wendy approximately $600/month in avoided fuel expenditures, and offsets 27,231 lbs of CO2 equivalent per year. Calculated at 48 lbs of CO2 per tree absorption, this is the equivalent of planting 567 trees per year. Additionally, her home is secure with power supplied throughout other climate change related weather incidents.

“I spent 2 years looking for a system that met my needs for a 10kW system to run manufacturing that was not on my roof, which would leave it vulnerable to hurricanes.  I also needed customer service and a warranty. I looked all over Europe and Canada and had many other bids.

Every detail on system integration has been covered from specification to installation.

I couldn’t be happier with BoxPower. It’s life changing. I am super happy. We are really proud as a company that we are a net zero company with zero waste.” —Wendy with the Wrist Widget, Big Island Hawaii

Boxpower’s 21kWh lithium ferro phosphate battery system, and 12kW AC-coupled battery inverter pre-wired inside of a 4’ x 8’ palletized metal enclosure, with a 3.5kW solar PV array mounted on top—installed in a single day. Also shown is Boxpower’s Minibox 4kW ground-mount PV array. Together this produces total system PV capacity to 7.5kW.

About BoxPower

BoxPower is a leading provider of plug and play solar energy solutions worldwide, offering best-in-class engineering, components, and workmanship to meet the needs of residential, community, commercial, and agricultural applications. BoxPower’s modular systems can be sized from as little as 3.5kW and as much as 528kW. From rural homes and farms in California to community microgrid projects in Alaska and disaster recovery in Puerto Rico, BoxPower offers clean, reliable, and affordable energy anywhere.

www.boxpower.io.

Contact Dalan Angelo at Dalan@BoxPower.io for more information on Boxpower’s sustainable energy solutions.

Building Resilience Through Solar Power

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A case study from Mercy Corps’ Resilience Hub in Guayama, Puerto Rico

Aim

Mercy Corps and BoxPower seek to disseminate lessons learned from our Resilience Hub Program in Guayama, Puerto Rico to create a replicable model for energy resilience projects on which other non-profits can build.

Resilience Hubs – Background and Context

In 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, causing unprecedented loss of lives and livelihoods whilst also exposing the fragility of the Puerto Rican electrical infrastructure. During this crisis, more than eighty¹ percent of the grid’s transmission and distribution power lines collapsed , leaving 1.5 million customers ² without power. This loss of infrastructure meant that communities had to find power generators to keep medicines cold, ventilators working, and other essential electrical equipment functioning. It has been  documented³ that this prolonged lack of power for essential needs led to a further loss of lives. This highlights the essential need for reliable electricity supply before, during and after such a crisis.

Following the hurricane, Mercy Corps initially provided direct
emergency response. However, it soon became evident that a
successful transition to long term recovery required a community
resilience approach. Mercy Corps secured funding for our Resilience Hubs Program, which aimed to create 15 Resilience Hubs in the most vulnerable communities around the island to equip them with resources that would allow them to respond to future natural disasters.

These 15 Hubs serve to leverage existing community centers and provide a range of resiliency support mechanisms. To date, 17 such centres have been established, providing a multitude of Mercy Corps sponsored assets for community use. These include community gardens and agricultural resources; disaster risk reduction training and material; connectivity equipment; potable water storage systems; and off-grid photovoltaic energy with storage capacities – all of which directly benefit over 95,000 members of Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable communities.

Since implementation, the capabilities and resiliency of the Hubs have been both tested and validated. In 2019, storm Dorian and Karen swept the island, followed shortly after by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in January 2020. The damage caused by the earthquake was largely considered one of the worst crises the island had faced since Hurricane Maria. The Resilience Hubs played a crucial role in providing a centralized locale for storm preparation, coordination and community organization during all three disaster events. Emergency response was centralized at the Hubs as critical access to ​water, energy, recharge stations, food and emergency supplies and internet connectivity were provided. One Hub, equipped with a kitchen powered by solar energy, was used by World Central Kitchen to provide meals to surrounding communities and first responders, impacting at least 1,500 individuals during its first week of emergency response.

The Use of Solar for Resilience Hubs

The use of solar + battery storage for Mercy Corps Resilience Hubs proved essential for providing reliable energy access throughout these crises. Solar connected to battery storage allows for the use of energy generated from the system day or night, both in times of grid supplied electricity and during an outage. Without the storage, a grid-tied solar energy system would not provide energy during an outage. The promotion of renewable energy also aligns tightly with Mercy Corps community driven approach to problem solving, and the desire to mitigate the impact of climate change within the communities it serves. Solar power generation was an obvious choice given the inherent vulnerabilities of Puerto Rico’s grid and the country’s UV potential.

Solar + storage enables communities to effectively plan due to the knowledge that they will have reliable electricity access. The flexibility of solar + storage, particularly through a modular approach, means that the capacity of the existing system can be increased to meet emergency requirements: for cold storage, medicine preservation, or whatever disaster response may arise. Lastly, solar + storage removes reliance on diesel for generators, which dramatically increases in cost or is completely unavailable during disasters.

For these reasons, access to clean and reliable energy to power the Resilience Hubs remained a requirement throughout the design phase. The Mercy Corps Puerto Rico (PR) Infrastructure team assessed the needs of each community and site location to see if solar installation was an option. This process identified that 14 of the 17 Hub locations could have high-capacity solar energy systems installed to better support the resilience of the communities they serve. One such example is the Guayama Hub.

Guayama Hub

The Guayama Hub was established in 2019 at the community school, Rafael A. Delgado Mateo. Through a competitive procurement process, BoxPower was identified as the solar installer, providing a dependable solar + storage system to support the local community in the face of emergencies.

Groundwork and foundation work began in late December in partnership with local contractors. On January 3, 2020, the container had been placed on the foundation and connected to the school. Soon after this, Puerto Rico schools, including Rafael A Delgado Mateo, were closed for weeks following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Despite these challenges, BoxPower was able to get access to the site in order to rapidly install the solar array, and fully commission the BoxPower unit by January 13, within a week of the earthquake.

Highlights of the Project

Mercy Corps PR team were happy with the number of communication channels between themselves, BoxPower and the subcontractor, and the speed at which the anchoring of the container, PV installations and commissioning moved once the foundation and permits were cleared. The team felt that even when working across different time zones and accounting for staff leave, BoxPower were always quick to respond, which meant that if issues arose they were mitigated quickly relative to the complexity of the tasks.

Furthermore, the team were impressed with the expertise shared by BoxPower, “Eric Youngren did one of the best handover presentations to the Community Based Organisation (CBO) and the community that we’ve ever had, it was clear, knowledgeable and full of examples. It was given in English but it did not seem to be a barrier since we had someone from our team translating it.” BoxPower was able to train local contractors and school employees on both the installation of the racking and also the operation of the system. This also helped to increase local engagement, reduce costs, and allow for local operation of the system. Given the remote monitoring capabilities installed, BoxPower can identify problems remotely should they arise and walk the local operator or a local technician through the issues.The system was quickly put to the test on January 29, 2020 when the power went out just after 8:00am. As can be seen on the graph below, the batteries seamlessly picked up the load. According to school representatives, the only reason they knew the power was out was when local residents started to come to the Hub to use the power!

Reliable power like this is essential for the local community. As described by the School Director, “​for us it has been critically important to have a good solar energy system that can serve the community. Especially for those of us that may one day need this space as a refuge [during a natural disaster]. With this system, we’ll be able to continue educating the children. This solar system has been a blessing.​”

BoxPower

Centered around helping communities, governments, humanitarian and emergency relief agencies, BoxPower is a social enterprise providing access to power with containerized solar + storage solutions. BoxPower’s products are designed to bring off-grid power rapidly and provide energy resilience when power supply from the grid is unavailable or unreliable. Benefitting over 3,000 people to date, they have helped provide clean, affordable, reliable energy access to established and emerging markets around the world. Their products are rapidly deployable, ship within days of ordering, and install on-site in a single day. By pre-assembling and mass-producing their systems in shipping containers, they can control cost, lead time and logistics.

BoxPower has been working in the Caribbean since Hurricane Maria, providing resilience with its rugged systems. Its systems, including that at the Guayama Resilience Hub, can withstand 188 mph winds. This is crucial for providing reliable electricity supply for critical loads during natural disasters. Furthermore, the standalone design allows the system to be installed next to the Hub, which enables solar provision without requiring ownership of the building. This ​video chronicles BoxPower’s work in Guayama and the Caribbean.

Conclusion

Mercy Corps in partnership with BoxPower provided a model for energy resilience in the community of Guayama, Puerto Rico. This system has continued to provide essential backup power for the community in the face of emergencies. The outcomes of this project have been commended by both the local community and Mercy Corps and we believe that there is great potential for this model to provide a high quality solution for backup power across numerous Resilience Hubs. As the Puerto Rican community and communities around the world prepare for the next disaster, Mercy Corps and BoxPower are confident that its Hubs will continue to support local disaster response efforts and provide a standardized and scalable model for comparable efforts globally.

CONTACT

ALFREDO PÉREZ​  alperez@mercycorps.org

LISMAR QUIÑONES lquinones@mercycorps.org

KARLA PEÑA. ​kpena@mercycorps.org

DALAN ANGELO Dalan@Boxpower.io

About BoxPower

BoxPower is a leading provider of plug and play solar energy solutions worldwide, offering best-in-class engineering, components, and workmanship to meet the needs of residential, community, commercial, and agricultural applications. BoxPower’s modular systems can be sized from as little as 3.5kW and as much as 528kW. From rural homes and farms in California to community microgrid projects in Alaska and disaster recovery in Puerto Rico, BoxPower offers clean, reliable, and affordable energy anywhere.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Now, and for the future.

Case Example: Light Manufacturing Company Replaces Generator with Solar Plus Battery Storage to Reduce Costs and Emissions

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Case Example: Light Manufacturing Company Replaces Generator with Solar Plus Battery Storage to Reduce Costs and Emissions

In December 2019, BoxPower deployed an off grid SolarContainer in Concord, CA that shows the strong economic, environmental, and logistical advantages for off grid commercial customers. These benefits include:

  • Significant annual cost savings from reduction in generator fuel
  • Range of options for amount of renewable energy production, up to 100%, with ability to meet air quality standards
  • Turnkey system that installs in under one day, shipped anywhere

The example below illustrates the advantages of BoxPower systems for off-grid commercial applications, based on a client’s light manufacturing operation in Concord, CA that had been running on a diesel generator for 20 years, as they were not able to receive utility service to their facility.

BoxPower Process for Right-sizing Solar Plus Battery Systems for Optimum Benefit at Least Cost

Cost savings begins with right-sizing the system, no more and no less than what is required to meet both renewable energy and cost-saving goals. In order to recommend the optimal solar plus battery system and at the least cost, BoxPower offers its Energy Audit and System Integration (EASI) service. This process takes a detailed survey of current and planned energy usage as well as the customer’s current diesel generator usage. It then recommends a BoxPower system and the potential savings and financial analysis of the system. For this customer in Concord, CA, BoxPower’s EASI software recommended a 15kW PV array and 42kWh battery bank to integrate with the existing 30kW generator. This system was designed to reach 90% renewable energy utilization  with no generator usage as can be seen in the February 2020 data below.  

Diesel Generator Costs

In Concord, CA the average diesel price is $3.79 and projected to increase 4.5% per year through 2040 (EIA). Assuming the customer continues to use 2,300 gallons of diesel a year costing $8,700, the lifetime cost of only the diesel fuel totals 272,375 dollars over the 20 year useful life period. Assuming $250 of maintenance per year (GTI), this total cost increases to $275,375. Please note this does not include diesel procurement or storage costs which can increase costs above $5 per gallon. 

BoxPower Financial Benefits

The total cost of the BoxPower 15kW/42kWh system was $94,813 including our 1 day installation process due to BoxPower’s patented easy-to-assemble design. Lifetime savings compared to the diesel generator are $178,143 before any investment tax credit. With the 26% investment tax credit, lifetime savings increase to $202,795 and an ROI in year 6. This customer chose to purchase outright, but if mixed with BoxPower’s 15 year financing, the customer experiences day 1 savings. Please see the figure below showing savings for the customer.

 Environmental Benefits

Each gallon of diesel emits 22 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (EIA). Since installation at the end of 2019, the Concord system has offset 11,509 pounds of carbon dioxide and will offset 1.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide over its life. For commercial and government entities who must meet air quality standards, the BoxPower solar plus battery systems provide an immediate solution. For those who wish to reduce generator use and emissions over time, all BoxPower systems are modular and easily scalable, enabling clients to add more solar and battery storage as their budgets allow, working toward renewable energy targets in an efficient and feasible way.

Logistics Benefits

Instead of worrying about diesel procurement, generator maintenance, or complicated custom solar and battery systems, BoxPower removes the headache and trouble by providing a turnkey, plug-and-play system that works on arrival, and that requires zero maintenance. Batteries and inverters are pre-wired inside a cargo container. BoxPower assembles pre-cut racking and the solar panels on site, and then commissions the system, all in a single day. Remote monitoring enables clients and BoxPower to assess system performance. 

BoxPower, Clean, Affordable, and Reliable Energy Anywhere

As seen by an off-grid commercial customer in California, there are significant value propositions in cost, simplicity, reliability, and sustainability for choosing BoxPower. Please reach out to sales@boxpower.io or visit our website https://boxpower.io to learn more. 

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(530) 802-5477

12438 Loma Rica Drive,
STE C, Grass Valley, CA 95945

info@boxpower.io

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