Surveying the market for a mobile microgrid system for the company ranch, Faith Technologies couldn’t find an off-the-shelf solution that met its requirements. So the company built one.
CEO Mike Jansen began contemplating the idea because the grid serving the company’s 1,000-acre western Kansas ranch isn’t reliable. Plus Faith Technologies is no stranger to microgrids. The planning, engineering, design and installation firm recently partnered with Schneider Electricon an advanced, stationary microgrid at the Bubolz Nature Center in Wisconsin.
Now, Faith intends to install its mobile microgrid, which consists of consists of a 9-kW solar PV array; an intelligent, 144-kWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system and a 10-kW, methanol reformer-based, Altergy hydrogen fuel cell, at the company ranch, which, in addition to promoting sustainable ranching and farming, is used for team building, retreats and similar activities. Industrial Ethernet switches from Westermo provide mobile microgrid controls and remote connectivity. The entire system is housed in a 20 by eight-foot container that can be transported via flatbed trucks.
Fortuitous debut
Development of the mobile microgrid opens up a new business development path for the company. And fortunately, Faith Technologies was able to unveil it to a large audience — the more than 600,000 people who attended last week’s EAA AirVenture, an annual aviation celebration in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin.
The opportunity came about because Faith Technologies served as the main electrical contractor for the air show and exhibition.
“We wanted to show off what the mobile microgrid could do. This, along with the fact that AirVenture is a place where innovative companies display new technologies on a global platform made it the perfect place to debut the new technology,” said Pat McGettigan, vice president of pre-construction.
From its booth at the air show, Faith Technologies charged several planes and an octocopter. “That made the lives of the pilots a little easier, but it also helped us showcase this new technology at an event that attracts people from across the globe,” McGettigan said.
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