Eight months after Hurricane Maria, power had still not been fully restored to the town of Mariana, Puerto Rico.

So a company called BoxPower shipped solar panels, batteries, and a backup generator to power a café, laundromat, and community center there. But unlike most renewable energy systems, this one snapped together almost like Legos – with no engineers or electricians needed.

Campus: “If you can put together an Ikea bed-frame you can probably put together our microgrid system.”

Angelo Campus founded BoxPower. The company’s portable power systems, and tools needed to assemble them, come in shipping containers.

Campus: “The battery bank and generator can provide power from the minute it hits the ground and the solar array can be set up in about five hours to provide a completely renewable source of energy.”

BoxPower plans to sell these systems for use at music festivals and other events. The company will donate them to communities recovering after disasters. Campus says the need for emergency power is growing with climate change.

Campus: “With the frequency and severity of natural disasters increasing with every season, we are trying to position ourselves to bring reliable and clean power to the victims of those disasters globally when they strike.”

Reporting credit: Mark Knapp/ChavoBart Digital Media.