KiloVault delivers reliable power to where it is needed—no matter the location. “What we’re really all about is providing innovative and affordable renewable energy solutions for both residential and commercial applications,” summarizes President Jay Galasso.
Co-founder Sascha Deri has deep roots in the industry, going back to 1999 when he launched his first renewable energy company. “They started with this vision of helping people go forward with renewable energy even though it was pretty tough to do at the time,” Galasso says of Deri and his business partners. KiloVault and its products “have really grown out of that experience, knowing what’s really required to make a reliable and flexible system in these environments.”
The minds behind KiloVault “saw a gap in the market between the products that were available,” Galasso says. “You had offerings at the high end that had a lot of features and you had products that were sort of at the low end of the market with few features and reliability concerns, and so we wanted to come up with a product line that was meeting in the middle, offering the latest features and functions at a competitive price that more and more people would be able to afford. That’s really what we were aiming for, what we’ve continued to deliver on.”
The underlying motivation is to make a positive difference in the world. “We are looking to help consumers and companies move forward managing their own power needs, helping them transition to renewable energy,” Galasso says. “We really see it as our fundamental, underlying vision to help all sectors of the market leverage renewable energy—and one of the key elements is providing reliable and affordable energy storage.”
The intermittent nature of renewable energy requires reliable storage solutions. The sun only shines for so many hours a day and the wind does not always blow. “You want to be able to bridge the gap between those time periods with energy storage,” Galasso says. “And that is true on the grid scale, but it’s also just as true on the residential or the individual company scale, where you can save significant money by having your own electrical production capability.”
For example, businesses in the United States’ commercial and industrial sectors will typically pay a demand charge based on their peak use of electricity within a given month. “That’s so the utility can scale and ensure that they can provide power at that level throughout that period,” Galasso explains. “But what it means to the company, the consumer of electricity, is that the highest level that you hit during the month is sort of a penalty you are going to pay for the rest of that month. And so what you’d really like to do is lower that peak and round out your energy needs. Energy storage can help you do that by producing power through solar and then leveraging it at those peak times.” The result can be significant cost savings each month.
Additionally, renewable energy storage can be indispensable when primary power sources are unreliable—a situation that has been occurring more frequently in North America. “With wildfires in different parts of the U.S. and Canada disrupting power lines… in California, in particular, we’re anticipating rolling blackouts again, potentially during the fire season this year,” Galasso says. “And so that creates a need for companies, community members, and residential facilities to have access to power during those disruptions.”
In addition to wildfires, freezing temperatures have caused a tragic loss of power in recent years. “There were tremendous disruptions due to the cold snaps that put out both distribution and production for large parts of Texas,” Galasso points out. “These disruptions are unfortunately becoming more frequent, even in the United States and Canada. And then if we look at other locations like Puerto Rico, the grid there has had historic instability problems and that’s driving a lot of need at all levels for more consistent and reliable power.”
All of these examples are only “the tip of the iceberg because as we look more broadly throughout the Americas, there are a lot of areas where there’s instability in the grid and with the availability of electric power to businesses and residences.” Galasso says that it is difficult to see a solution for these infrastructure issues at the national level, but that individual renewable energy storage is a realistic answer to the systemic problem. He likens this approach to the telecommunications transformation that came when cell phones were introduced to underdeveloped nations and countless people who did not have access to landlines were suddenly able to connect through wireless technology.
“In a large way, community solar and other more distributed production can have an impact in those same kinds of markets by allowing communities that have limited or no access to electricity today to get more reliable power for their everyday needs through micro grids and other technologies that are really quite practical these days—and also very dependent on the need for energy storage to make those be practical,” Galasso says.
KiloVault products are designed to provide the solution people need, from remote locations in the developing world to the most technologically advanced cities. The company’s very first products set a precedent with their safe lithium technology. “We use lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) as our base technology, which avoids the thermal runaway conditions that can happen with some of the other, more exotic combinations of lithium and precious metals,” Galasso says. “And it’s been proven to be very reliable for home use and even large-scale energy storage needs.”
Last year, KiloVault introduced the newest version of its HLX+ Series, a 12V battery with expanded communications capabilities and the ability to operate in lower temperatures using a built-in heater. This technology “allows it to adapt to the environment,” making the HLX+ series ideal for colder climates. The team is also adding accessories for easier mounting and convenient monitoring of the batteries.
One of the company’s most popular products is the larger capacity HAB battery, which was introduced nearly four years ago and is designed for residential and light industrial and commercial use. “It’s been very successful for us getting into many new markets,” Galasso says. “Our customers really like the fact that it comes with built-in features like mobile apps and a cloud service that keeps your firmware up to date and allows you to do remote monitoring. We also allow it to integrate with popular inverters.”
KiloVault products are compatible with inverters and charge controllers from Schneider Electric, Sol-Ark, MidNite Solar, OutBack Power, Victron Energy and other leading suppliers. An inverter is an electrical component that is used to take the stored energy in the battery and convert it to AC energy for use in homes and businesses. “We meet the various UL standards and CSA standards for electrical compatibility,” Galasso says.
Currently, the KiloVault HAB is available as a single unit of 7.5 kilowatt-hours or a dual unit of 15 kilowatt-hours. “But it’s also expandable to up to 105 kilowatt-hours with fourteen units being used in parallel,” says Galasso.
With so many technological advancements already under the company’s belt, one can only guess what is on the horizon for KiloVault. One thing is for sure: the team will continue their mission of delivering innovative and affordable energy storage solutions throughout the world to those who need them most.
