Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)

Traditional wires-and-poles infrastructure carries the risk of transmission-sparked wildfires – a major concern across California, and particularly in areas like Briceburg, a remote community located at the end of a long set of distribution lines that ran through forested terrain.

In 2019, a major fire destroyed the transmission lines that served Briceburg. Installing an integrated solar, battery, and generator represented an opportunity to not only address the utility-related wildfire concerns, but also to increase grid resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with California commitment to 100% renewable electricity by 2045.

New Sun Road and BoxPower partnered with PG&E to demonstrate and deploy Stellar Microgrid OS^TM, a smart device agnostic remote monitoring and control platform, to meet security, reliability, environmental and utility-level performance standards. 

Stellar Microgrid OS^TM enables PG&E and BoxPower to monitor and control the Briceburg Remote Grid via satellite and cellular connectivity, with capabilities for remote performance management, safety diagnostics, alarms, reporting, and automated refueling notifications.

Throughout PG&E’s service area, isolated pockets of remote customers are served via long electric distribution lines that in many cases traverse through high fire threat district (HFTD) areas. Replacing these long distribution lines with a reliable, low-carbon local energy source is an innovative option that has now become feasible. 

The Briceburg system provides up to 89% renewable energy annually.