Dragon Q Energy Pilots Off-Grid for Renewable Energy

A long known hard fact is that Santa Barbara County is at the end of the power grid line for electricity powered by Southern California Edison. No matter how you slice it, if there is a power shut down for any reason, SBC is out. 

This was detailed in the Montecito Journal by Rinaldo Brutoco, on March 26, 2020: 

“Sixty-six percent of our power is carried through a single pair of high voltage transmission lines owned by Southern California Edison (Edison). They sit in the back of the foothills that ring our county and bring the energy we use between Goleta and Ventura. Since they run on the same easement next to each other in the remote back country, if a tower goes down, we would be without power. As the World Business Academy discovered in 2012 in an obscure filing made by Edison at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Edison specifically warned the transmission lines would fail from erosion under the towers from rain or fire.” 

His advice at that time was, “The Academy knows the solution to this precarious situation is simple: generate energy locally from renewable resources with a statewide “honeycomb” of interconnected microgrids to replace the existing grid one substation at a time. Microgrids can be built to rely solely upon renewable resources and economically store that energy in numerous ways. When the rest of the electrical grid goes down from transmission line failure, a microgrid could “island” itself and continue to function. It could also interconnect to other microgrids forming that honeycomb described above. The Academy several years ago provided a detailed map to the CPUC for replacing the entire transmission network with solar cells.”

[https://www.montecitojournal.net/2020/03/26/transmission-woes-on-central-coast/]

Not waiting for state and local governments to take action or advice from scientists, enter the Dragon Q Energy (DQE) team of CEO & Founder Daniel Casey, mechanical engineer Quang Bui, and marketing director Liam Casey. Dan has done research on drones and helicopters for NASA and the U.S. Army, and developed a large-format, pressurized grid battery while repairing hurricane-damaged transmission power lines in Florida in 2005. In 2022 he founded Dragon Q Energy with a mission that energy storage should be safe, resilient, and adaptable. Recent add to the company is Sean Casey as chief commercial officer. Sean is a decorated U.S. Army veteran, and founder of Rotorcorp, the world’s largest supplier of Robinson Helicopter parts.

My first report on their work was a year ago, in the Montecito Journal, July 24, 2024, where they were testing a PowerPole™ at the University of California Santa Barbara’s California NanoSystems Institute. They now have their hub on Patterson Ave, Goleta.

This week I am happy to report that Dragon Q Energy is piloting an eight location PowerPole™ installation across the county. They are working in collaboration with Megan Birney Rudert – president and CEO of Unite to Light – and the James S. Bower Foundation to bring renewable energy to our county. If these installations succeed, we are closer to our local renewable grid. The locations are:

-the UCSB Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve and Sedgwick Reserve, with two PowerPoles™ for research and educational opportunities in the field while increasing resilience to power outages.

-Sweet Wheel Farms in Summerland will use a PowerPole™ to aid in water ionization for crops, as well as powering electric tools and bicycles for sustainable farming practices.

-Girls Inc. Carpinteria with one PowerPole™ to power their 24/7 food pantry and Resiliency Center to ensure access to resources during both everyday needs and emergencies.

-Goleta Beach and Jalama Beach with two PowerPoles™ installed by the County of Santa Barbara Office of Emergency Management to power their Tsunami warning systems for critical communications without diesel generators.

-Blue Sky Center in Cuyama to use one PowerPole™ for the campsite’s internet, energy use and for running a flight monitor for their local airstrip.

-Safe Parking Site (unreleased address) to use one PowerPole™ for internet and charging stations for people living in their cars.

The partners in the project explained, “The next steps include finalizing battery certification, scaling up manufacturing, and completing necessary permitting. The partners plan to have all eight PowerPoles™ installed and operational before the end of the year. This community demonstration project represents a significant milestone in validating Dragon Q Energy’s battery technology as the company prepares for its next capital raise in early September.”

Dragon Q Energy is currently in the conceptual stages of a large-format 0.27 MWh subterranean battery system where traditional above ground batteries put people at risk, e.g., data centers, dense urban areas and military bases.  

411: www.dragonqenergy.com
http://unitetolight.org
www.jsbowerfoundation.org