BoxPower Provides Remote Grid System to Help Mitigate Fire Risk in California

MARIPOSA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, March 18, 2021 — BoxPower, a leader in the hybrid solar microgrid space, is designing and installing a standalone power system in Briceburg, California to help mitigate fire risk in the area.

The remote grid will support Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in its wildfire mitigation and energy resilience efforts in the face of intensifying fire risk across the state. Slated for completion in May, the integrated solar, battery, and generator system will replace traditional power distribution lines once servicing the unincorporated community.

In October 2019, the Briceburg Fire burned 5,563 acres in Mariposa County, damaging electrical distribution lines and interrupting PG&E service to the community. Since then, PG&E has provided temporary diesel generation to meet Briceburg’s power needs.

Rather than rebuild or repair its damaged power lines in Briceburg, PG&E is working with BoxPower to build a remote grid system. In addition to reducing wildfire risk, on-site power improves energy resilience: Briceburg will no longer be subject to Public Safety Power Shutoff events. The community will also benefit from reduced greenhouse gas emissions since the solar with propane backup system provides up to an estimated 89 percent renewable energy.

The Briceburg project is one of the initial remote grid installations PG&E is undertaking as part of its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP). The utility set a projected target of 20 operational remote grid sites by the end of 2022, according to its plan submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission.

In a public regulatory filing, PG&E said that it has identified the potential for “an eventual portfolio of several hundred Remote Grid line segment opportunities in total… [that] would serve a small but significant number of locations at the edge of the distribution system where energy use is low, but delivery infrastructure challenges are high.”

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 ran through high-fire-threat terrain. An on-site power system will not only eliminate much of the maintenance and vegetation management costs needed for power lines; it also helps mitigate the risk of future wildfires sparked by electrical infrastructure.

Working with investor-owned public utilities is a promising area of expansion for BoxPower. In addition to the Briceburg array, BoxPower has recently completed a similar project for another utility company in Northern California.

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