#Blue planet energy solutions install#

Earlier this year, Tesla - the company that makes the electric cars that Rogers drives - announced that it was getting into the battery business as well.īlue Planet Energy SystemsÂ notes that its offering could be especially compelling to people living in areas where the utility says their grid is already saturated with PV systems. But with PV use growing rapidly and incentives from utilities drying up, batteries are making more sense.

#Blue planet energy solutions install#

TheÂ Sony batteries can handle more than 8,000 complete discharge cycles, or about 20 years of daily discharge, and come with a 10-year manufacturer warranty.īlue Planet Energy Systems helps businesses or homeowners install and integrate the batteriesÂ into their existing PV systems (or can provide complete PV packages), andÂ its special mix of hardware and software to manage the storage of electricity byÂ day, and the use of battery power by night.īattery storage is less common than “net metering” setups, where facilities run on solar power and sell excess energy to utilities during the day, but still draw electricity from the power company at night. Rather than using conventionalÂ lithium cobalt oxide, the new batteries useÂ olivine-based phosphate cathodes, which mean they are less expensive, run cooler, and contain no potentially carcinogenic cobalt.Įach battery unit can store 1.2kWh and weighs 17 pounds, and the number of units installed depends on the energy needs of the property. Blue is a popular color.)Īt the heart of the new offering is a high-power, long-life Lithium ion batteries manufactured by Sony. (Rogers’Â Blue Planet Energy SystemsÂ is not to be confused with this Illinois company or this company in the U.K., and Blue Ion is not the same as this marketing company in South Carolina.

Rogers is now taking the lessons he learned at home and bringing them to the masses with Blue Planet Energy Systems.Â And the new company’s debut product is Blue Ion, a self-contained energy storage system that includes batteriesÂ and specialized hardware and software. Instead, it (and the two Tesla electric cars parked in front) draws all its power from the sun. It profiled Rogers and his 6,000-square-foot Honolulu home, which has been off the grid for three years. His latest venture taps into both his extensive technology background as well as his environmentalÂ advocacy.Īn Associated Press report by Caleb Jones spread far and wide today, netting coverage across local media as well as from nationalÂ and international news outlets. He went on to found gaming and mobile software companies (like Avatar Reality and Blue Mars), Blue Startups, Hawaii’s first technology venture accelerator, and the Blue Planet Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing clean energy. Henk Rogers built his fortune by flying to Russia to secure the rights to international game sensation Tetris. One of Hawaii’s top entrepreneurs chose Independence Day weekend to announce his latest big idea: helping island businesses and households to get off the grid by integrating state-of-the-art battery storage with solar photovoltaic energy systems.