Backup power in cases of emergencies is necessary at the municipal level. They are highly encouraged at the household level, especially in areas more prone to disasters due to natural weather patterns. Traditionally, diesel generators would be installed at key facilities but there are downsides to that approach. Prolonged exposure to fumes from diesel generators can result in health issues. Significant innovations exist for alternative sources of energy but, since they haven’t been integrated into the normal scheme of operations, they often aren’t warehoused and ready for use when they are needed for emergencies. On a panel at the Global Cities Team Challenge in Austin, TX, FreeWire’s CEO, Arcady Sosinov, discussed a more sustainable and efficient approach for backup power: smart battery systems.

“Our units are designed to work with the utility and the grid while there is no emergency. They offer downtime energy management and reduce energy costs for the facilities. In the event of an emergency, the units can quickly be island off and deployed in areas to provide clean and reliable backup power. The units are also fully modular, meaning if you need more power you simply stack a few together. For an asset manager, it will be much simpler because they now only have to manage one skew rather than many.”

Weighing in at 1600 lbs, FreeWire’s new towable Mobi Gen was brought into Austin and was on display in the expo hall. During the panel, questions arose the power capabilities of a seemingly small and lightweight battery system. But a typical mid-size house consumes about 2-3kW. At 48kWh, the Mobi Gen can provide power for about 2 days. Arcady added a point that is often forgotten,

“In the state of an emergency, most people naturally will be consuming far less power because you’ll turn off a significant number of devices in your home.”

The conference was held in Austin, TX, and was sponsored by the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology and the non-profit U.S. Ignite, 140 city and county governments gathers to show how they hope to use connected technology to become more efficient. StateScoop, a web publication that discusses innovation for government technology, covered the event and examined five projects at the Global City Teams Challenge. FreeWire’s towable Mobi Gen was spotted by writer, Alex Koma.

“Even in a technologically savvy city like San Francisco, municipal buildings still depend on gasoline-powered generators when the power grid goes down.

But Arcady Sosinov, CEO and cofounder of FreeWire Technologies, is hoping to move the city to a new battery-powered backup system.

Each government building could soon be powered by Sosinov’s “modular block” battery generators, saving the city money in fuel costs and providing a comprehensive view of power outages across San Francisco by feeding data into a central portal.”