FOUNDER OF THE MONTH
MICHELE NESBIT
BOXPOWER
BY Russell Nichols
In a world of portability and to-go orders , Grass Valley-based startup Box- Power delivers energy in a box . In rural zones and other disaster-prone areas , reliable power can be hard to come by , but the company ’ s minigrid containers are designed to support disaster relief and end-of-the-line customers who aren ’ t as well connected .
“ Medical facilities and utilities are playing catchup as the grid and distribution lines are not set up to handle wildfire risk or disasters ,” says Michele Nesbit , a cofounder and chief operating officer of BoxPower . “ We ’ re going to continue to see outages unless we add microgrids .”
BoxPower ’ s modular systems are plug-and-play solar solutions , which start at 3.5 kilowatts ( which can run most appliances in small homes with 2-4 occupants ). The boxes include an inverter , batteries and backup generator options .
BoxPower , developed as a research project at Princeton University in 2011 , officially launched in 2018 . It initially focused on projects in Alaska and disaster recovery in Puerto Rico but has since pivoted to bring clean energy to parts of California . The team consists of about two dozen , and the startup is seeking $ 2 million in the next equity round .
PHOTO BY TERENCE DUFFY theater director . If I could have any other job , I ’ d be a ......................................... people . A startup can ’ t be successful without .....................................
The TV show that best represents my approach to business would be ............................................................................
“ Man vs . Wild .” stagnated growth .
My biggest fear about launching was ..................................
to If I could give my younger self any advice , it would be .......... have patience and adjust perspective as you go . .........................................................................................
HOW DOES MODULAR DESIGN STREAMLINE THE PROCESS ? “ Modular design allows us to piece parts together so we ’ re not designing ( each microgrid ) from scratch . A lot of things are unique to each project , but , ultimately , it still functions the same way .”
DID THE PANDEMIC IMPACT THE STARTUP ? “ We are still focused on what we set out to do . We started with a focus on rural Alaska and disaster relief in Puerto Rico , then we realized we had disasters like forest fires in our own backyard . With COVID-19 restricting our travel , we ’ ve doubled down on projects close to home and completed faraway projects by working with local installers .”
For more on BoxPower , read Russell Nichols ’ Startup of the Month column at comstocksmag . com .
122 comstocksmag . com | March 2021