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After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, the American Red Cross implemented over one hundred solar-plus-storage school microgrids in each of Puerto Rico’s seventy-eight municipalities. Totaling over 11 MWh of energy storage and 6 MW of solar power, these microgrids now provide long-term resilience to tens of thousands of people seeking shelter during emergencies.

Join Jared Leader from SEPA as he discusses how Blue Planet Energy’s Puerto Rico microgrid project used energy storage, renewable sources, stakeholder engagement, and smart siting at local schools to bring resilience to communities devastated by Hurricane Maria. Featuring: Chris Johnson, Blue Planet EnergyGaby Perez, Blue Planet EnergyJared Leader, SEPA

The immediate effect of global lockdowns has given the world a rare glimpse into a carbon-free future. Cleaner skies have been seen for the first time, from Los Angeles to New Delhi, and demonstrate the environmental improvements of reduced carbon emissions on a global scale. But what these temporarily cleaner skies have also exposed is the harmful reality of air pollution caused by fossil fuels.Air pollution is a respiratory health crisis that has plagued the world long before the coronavirus pandemic, killing an estimated 7 million people per year and accounting for nearly half of all lung diseases and cancers. Through the spread of COVID-19, and as documented in a scientific study on Europe’s most polluted areas, we are learning that long-term exposure to air pollution not only increases susceptibility to contracting the disease but is a significant factor in COVID-19 fatality.Fossil fuel combustion is the biggest contributor to air pollution, and its two main sources – vehicle traffic and electrical power plants – intensify illnesses like asthma and worsen symptoms for people with preexisting heart and lung conditions. Over the last month, as factories closed and car and plane transportation declined, localized improvements in air quality proved to have healing effects by decreasing the triggers for asthma attacks and respiratory illnesses. Measurable fossil fuel pollutants in Los Angeles, for example, have decreased by 54 percent, while many metropolitan cities in Europe report a drop of 30 to 60 percent.‍

Buildings and their construction together account for 39 percent of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The Blue Ion LX from Blue Planet Energy is a collection of technologies aimed at providing a complete commercial storage microgrid solution – including a battery inverter, LFP batteries, an integrated microgrid controller from Ageto Energy, and a specially made enclosure built at Peerless-AV, an award-winning designer and manufacturer of audio and video solutions in Chicago.On this episode of the Pitch, Ben Widmer from Blue Planet Energy explains the ins and outs of the system, including:

Audio/video solution designer Peerless-AV has partnered with battery manufacturer Blue Planet Energy to develop the Blue Ion LX — a patent-pending, grid-optional energy solution that brings a wide range of sustainable energy options to power critical infrastructure and businesses.Through a rugged, custom enclosure manufactured by Peerless-AV, Blue Planet Energy’s lithium-iron-phosphate battery system, and an integrated site controller, the companies are bringing together premium technologies to provide reliable energy for resilience projects that are built independent of, or in conjunction with, the utility grid. These include applications where energy is absolutely critical, like emergency services and healthcare facilities, or prohibitively high-cost, such as regions with expensive utility rate structures or where business continuity during grid outages is imperative.

A major pain point in commercial-scale storage and microgrids is integrating all the disparate pieces of equipment together into a cohesive whole. Blue Planet Energy is attempting to ease this pain with the most complete system we’ve seen yet, the Blue Ion LXHV, which includes LFP batteries from Blue Planet, a pre-integrated microgrid site controller from Ageto Energy, and a battery inverter all in one rugged and modern enclosure built by Peerless-AV, an award-winning designer and manufacturer of audio and video solutions in Chicago. Check it out: