BoxPower Getting Bids For Big Orders Of Its Portable Solar Energy Containers
Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Mark Anderson
Photo: One of BoxPower Inc.’s MiniBox units, which generate solar power and store it with a battery system. (COURTESY OF BOXPOWER INC.)
California’a multiple widespread power outages in 2019 have given a big boost to BoxPower Inc., developer of portable and turnkey solar power and battery units that are housed in shipping containers.
The company is currently appraising bids and requests for proposals by California counties and utilities for orders of 10 to 30 units, said Anderson Barkow, co-founder of the company.
Until this fall, the startup had mostly sold its power stations unit by unit.
The Grass Valley company builds self-contained and automated solar power systems using shipping containers that measure 20 by 8 feet. The company also offers smaller “MiniBox” units that come on shipping pallets. BoxPower has ramped up its manufacturing to eight units per month, double what it was at the end of 2018, Barkow said.
BoxPower’s “SolarContainer” units range from $50,000 to $100,000, depending on features like the number of solar panels and battery capacity. The MiniBox models run from $20,000 to $40,000.
BoxPower, which has 15 full-time employees, had revenue of $320,000 in 2018. Its revenue is on track to reach more than $1 million this year, with more orders rolling into the company, Barkow said.
While utilities and jurisdictions use the solar power units, that wasn’t their intended use, Barkow said.
The original concept was that they would be used in remote locations that have challenges accessing power, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In most cases, BoxPower systems are used to replace diesel generators, Barkow said, because they are more cost-effective.
The customers now seeking bids and requests for proposals include California utilities and counties that want remote spot power in significant amounts, Barkow said. He declined to reveal specific counties or utilities.
At this point, the company can keep up with current manufacturing demand. If it does get multiple orders, it will ramp up its Grass Valley production. The company is, however, considering a licensing agreement for manufacturing for the Puerto Rico market, where the electrical grid is still not fully repaired following Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Despite being somewhat remote, the company’s Grass Valley headquarters has its advantages, Barkow said. The company can tap into a less expensive labor force because the cost of living is cheaper, and the cost of warehouse space is also significantly cheaper than locations closer to big cities, he said. The company has also had success hiring electrical and solar experts who retired from Bay Area companies and moved to Nevada County, Barkow said.
BoxPower’s technology was developed in 2011 at Princeton University, with research supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. The company was spun out of Princeton in 2016, when it began marketing and selling its portable power unit in a standard shipping container. The units feature a solar array that can be installed with the container as a base platform, along with all the inverters and batteries to collect and offer power. They also feature a backup generator for evening hours. The larger units can generate 15 to 22 kilowatts, which is enough to power about seven homes. The company in the summer of 2019 introduced its MiniBox, which can power a single home.
The company has been backed so far by grants and venture capital. Its venture investors include Anchorage-based Launch Alaska, and BoxPower has participated in accelerator programs offered by Valley Ventures, which is associated with California State University Fresno, and by Princeton’s Keller Center.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2020/01/07/boxpower-getting-bids-for-big-orders-of-its