‘We see microgrids as a complete energy alternative’: BoxPower’s microgrid-in-a-box

Recently, California’s Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced plans to provide up to US$43 million in grant funding to support nine community-led microgrid projects.

The state has had other successful microgrid projects, such as the Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid (RCAM), in Humboldt County.

In May, zinc hybrid cathode battery and storage system manufacturer Eos secured an order from Faraday Microgrids to install a 3MW/15MWh system on tribal land in California, US. This project will support the tribe’s facilities.

Some microgrids are also helpful for their “islanding” ability, allowing them to operate disconnected from the grid during a fire or an extreme weather event.

This feature is often most helpful for rural and economically disadvantaged communities.

Vaughan says of BoxPower’s systems, “Microgrids are traditionally seen as backup or grid-tied systems to provide energy when the distribution or the wider grid fails. But for us, we see these as a complete energy alternative, so they have to perform as such.”

Adapting to location, weather and government regulation

In 2011, BoxPower secured funding from the National Science Foundation to develop its containerised microgrid technology, initially concentrating on deploying microgrids for disaster relief in the Caribbean.

Since then, the company has grown its operations by applying its technology across various sectors, including remote communities, EV charging stations, agriculture, medical centres, communication hubs, and serving rural customers of California’s Liberty Utilities and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).

Schachtel explains, “Box Power is a microgrid solutions provider. The way we look at our overall products and services is that we’re a software-enabled, modular hardware platform.”

“These kits are pre-engineered and prefabricated, so it takes a lot of the initial issues away from traditional microgrid deployment, where they’re kind of seen as science projects, and a lot of them are custom built. They traditionally have very long procurement timelines. And we aim to take that whole aspect away from microgrid deployment.”

The company shortens procurement timelines by offering solutions such as its SolarContainer. This fully integrated ‘microgrid-in-a-box’ combines solar PV, battery storage, and inverters, with an optional backup generator.

Vaughan says, “We are in a very unique niche market where we have the capabilities of serving everyone from the small homestead that’s looking for that off-grid solution to up to an industrial size.”

He further explains the custom nature and adaptability of BoxPower’s technology, saying:

“Yesterday’s discussion was with emergency services at fire departments and setting up microgrids for resilience and reliability in case of major events.”

He continues, “My next call after that was a 4.5MW marijuana plant in New Jersey, where 100,000 square feet of beautiful green will be grown. And then an earlier conversation with someone who’s just simply looking at energising a small footprint of little mini homes.”

Schachtel and Vaughan say utilities have also begun embracing microgrids as grid assets, explaining that around 2020, there was an increase, continuing today, in utility interest in microgrids.

The pair also notes BoxPower’s “resilience-first” design, noting that its systems can be deployed in diverse areas, from wildfire-prone locations to remote Alaska.

Schachtel says, “Our Bryceberg system, which is in collaboration with PG&E, was deployed in the wake of a wildfire that destroyed the distribution network leading to the Bryceberg community, which is about five homes, as well as a telecommunications network, and an emergency facility.”

“Instead of rebuilding the entire distribution line and undergrounding it, they instead deployed a microgrid system contracted by us. Something that we like to point to is that the system has upheld 99.99999% reliability since 2021, and that’s also been throughout multiple natural disasters, another wildfire in that area, and the atmospheric river storms that affected that area, as well as heat waves.”

Like BoxPower’s microgrids, the energy storage industry and renewable energy industry as a whole recently found itself adapting, preparing for operational shifts during the refining of the 2025 budget reconciliation bill.

H.R. 1’s enactment has shifted focus toward rapidly boosting US manufacturing and cell procurement.

Furthermore, the 2021 ‘Build America, Buy America’ (BABA) Act, which was included in the ‘Infrastructure Investment and Jobs’ Act of 2021, implemented a preference for domestic content procurement for all federal financial assistance related to infrastructure projects starting after 14 May 2022.

While the company did not reveal where it sources its system components from, Vaughan says BoxPower has adapted to BABA provisions to maintain federal funding eligibility.

“I would say there’s been a major urgency recently on that,” he continues, “It’s a very small space, so many people are looking at, ‘Oh, we want American made.’ That’s great, but there’s a cost to that. And after you pay the premium to go American made, if that’s the choice, even the tax credits that you would receive still don’t really make that as attractive.”

“There are certain requirements where BABA compliance is required. There is no capital funding that would be available unless that’s in play. And that is where we’re putting a lot of our energy and emphasis to ensure that we align with that.”

BoxPower’s EASI software and plans for the future

BoxPower states that its Energy Audit and System Implementation (EASI) software is critical to the company’s approach.

Vaughan explains that the platform allows users to “quickly take data, let’s just say, load specifics, enter that into an EASI system, hence the name, that will then ask you questions such as, is this a roof mount? Is this a ground mount? Is this a grid-connected or a non-grid-connected situation?”

Its comprehensive approach to project costs and specifications makes EASI particularly powerful. Schachtel explains: “A lot of energy modeling tools don’t really account for full project costs. What EASI does is it also spits out full turnkey project costs. So it gives people a full sense of how much the project will actually cost, and what is actually going to be needed to fully deploy these systems from a turnkey perspective.”

The system generates detailed reports “momentarily within minutes of entering all this data, something that would generally take an engineering team hours, if not weeks, to generate and create,” Vaughan notes. These reports include equipment specifications and site preparation requirements to permitting considerations and financial analyses.

“We’re really taking that AI approach,” he adds, explaining that the system is built on “significant data entry” from the company’s software team and engineers “to ensure that the data that’s entered is actually what we use on a day-to-day basis. It’s not just pulling it from the internet, because that’s not going to work. It actually has to pull from specific project findings.”

As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events grow, and as grid infrastructure in many areas nears the end of its lifespan, Box Power’s standardised microgrid solutions provide an attractive alternative to expanding the traditional grid.

Projects like Bryceberg show that, in certain situations, microgrids can be more cost-effective and resilient compared to traditional distribution networks, especially in remote or vulnerable locations. BoxPower is attempting to speed up the shift toward a more distributed and resilient energy system by turning microgrids from bespoke engineering projects into standardised energy solutions.