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R&D Microgrid & Training Center Coming to Blue Planet Energy HQ

January 28, 2020
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2 Min

At Blue Planet Energy headquarters in Honolulu, Hawaii, considerable enhancements are being made to the company’s research and development resources. A new facility, affectionately known as The Sandbox, will expand upon Blue Planet Energy’s energy storage and power conversion component evaluation and integration capabilities.The Sandbox will utilize the Blue Ion LX energy storage system with an initial capacity of 128 kWh. In deployment, the LX systems can expand to over 4 MWh. Paired with the Blue Ion LX will be a variety of industry-leading battery and photovoltaic inverters, flex-fuel generators, supervisory control, and data acquisition (SCADA) technologies, and more.“These elements have critical work to perform providing power for electric vehicle and forklift charging stations as well as facility equipment including machine tools, welders, and HVAC systems,” said Sterling Gascon, product engineer at Blue Planet Energy. “The ultimate goal is to make Blue Planet Energy’s headquarters capable of 100 percent off-grid operation.”The Blue Planet Energy team is excited to integrate various power conversion technologies, charge controllers, and communications and monitoring systems in The Sandbox. Along with the high-voltage LX systems, Blue Planet Energy will continue the ongoing integration and compatibility testing of its flagship low-voltage Blue Ion 2.0 system in order to continuously evolve product operation and features.

rendering of battery systems

“The testing facility supports our product enhancement and development while also providing a shared evaluation testbed for our industry partners. Another side benefit of the site will be updated product support resources, enhanced data capture, and technical and product content creation for multimedia demonstration and training purposes,” continued Gascon.In keeping with its mission, Blue Planet Energy will utilize The Sandbox as an interactive teaching tool for its dealers and the surrounding community. Various trainings will be held regularly on a variety of topics ranging from design to installation. Installers will have opportunities to participate in hands-on workshops with the product builders so that they are fully trained to work with Blue Ion systems in the field.Blue Planet Energy’s technology partners, such as Ageto Energy, Delta, and Schneider Electric will have access to the facility for professional trainings on their products and how they seamlessly integrate with Blue Planet Energy’s Blue Ion systems. On-site trainings will be recorded and posted online for those unable to attend in person. Individuals and groups interested in learning about microgrids are invited to visit The Sandbox to observe and interact with an operational, real-world microgrid.

Click here to read about the Blue Ion LX powering the clean energy microgrid at the VERGE19 event.