Recent fire seasons have led the state’s three investor-owned utilities to increasingly utilize public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) each fire season, spanning days and impacting millions of people. This led many utility customers to purchase fuel-based generators and extension cords, along with other questionable ideas.
Recent tragic events remind us these fossil-fuel backup sources are lethal when used improperly, polluting when used, and can result in
- Fires and carbon monoxide poisoning
- Neighborhoods filled with the smell and health consequences of generator exhaust
- Misguided approaches which send electrical backfeed onto the grid putting utility workers and the public at risk
Connect California is rooted in the simple idea of clean, safe, and inexpensive resiliency set against a complex energy, technology, and consumer landscape.
Connect California works with industry experts to create solutions to electrical infrastructure challenges, such as the IslandDER™. The IslandDER, combined with compatible systems, solves the basic connectivity and safety requirements allowing an EV to power a home or a small business:
- Enables standard grid-tied rooftop solar energy systems to ride through outages by keeping an EV or portable/stationary battery charged and the home energized
- Provides a safer way for existing fuel-based generators to power an entire home by removing the need to use extension cords or place a fossil fuel based backup generator inside the home
- Reduces the cost of backup power by streamlining safety and making backup power ‘plug and play’ for the whole home