COVID-19: SimpliPhi Power ‘makes adjustments’ to reopen California factory

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
SimpliPhi Power’s facilities in Oxnard, California, prior to closing and then reopening with adjustments made under CDC guidelines. Image: SimpliPhi Power.

California-headquartered SimpliPhi Power closed down its manufacturing operations briefly due to the COVID-19 pandemic last week before reopening this week, having made adjustments to try and ensure the safety of workers.

The company, a maker of energy storage systems based around lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry for residential and commercial scale as well as portable power packs and microgrids, emailed Energy-Storage.news with a statement from CEO Catherine Von Burg last week.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Following the state-wide “stay at home” order on 19 March, SimpliPhi closed its headquarters including its manufacturing plant, while office staff switched to working remotely from home. With California having ruled that industry sectors involved in energy. emergency response and manufacturing can be considered part of the state’s ‘Essential critical infrastructure workforce’, the company took the decision to “make adjustments to our headquarters and production facilities, following [US] Centre for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines”. The company reopened on Monday (30 March). 

“Our hearts go out to all those who are facing health and economic hardships as a result of the coronavirus,” Von Burg wrote.

“With customers and partners across the globe impacted by its spread, we feel a tremendous sense of accountability to ensure that people and communities continue to have secure access to energy, so that critical infrastructure delivering products and services such as hospitals, clinics and emergency shelters continue to have power and remain operational.” 

“Resilience, energy security and empowering communities are core to SimpliPhi’s mission and the work that we all do as a team, from manufacturing, to shipping, engineering, sales and project development, is all the more critical to the world, to medical personnel combating the coronavirus, and to our economic security.  As a company, we are part of the solution to many of the serious problems in the world today, from climate change to energy poverty.”  

11 November 2025
San Diego, USA
The 2024 Summit included innovative new features including a ‘Crash Course in Battery Asset Management’, Ask-Me-Anything formats and debate-style sessions. You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players again in 2025 from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.

Read Next

May 1, 2025
Yarra Energy Foundation has secured funding to install three new community batteries in and around Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
May 1, 2025
AEMO has revealed that, as of March 2025, the pipeline of new standalone BESS in the NEM has increased by 86% year-on-year (YoY).
April 30, 2025
NYSERDA has launched a programme to incentivise residential and retail energy storage in the state, offering a total of US$775 million for energy storage projects.
Premium
April 30, 2025
Leading BESS owner-operators in the UK have signalled their opposition to the government’s cap and floor support scheme for long-duration energy storage (LDES) in an open letter. We spoke to one its signatories James Basden, founder of Zenobē, about why.
April 29, 2025
A panel discussed the impact of CAISO’s interconnection reforms at last month’s Energy Storage Summit USA 2025 in Dallas.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter