IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
An Inland Empire solar energy company has developed a battery designed to back up major household devices during a blackout.
The FLEX storage system can serve as a back-up power source for refrigerators, television sets, computer modems and other appliances for up to eight hours, said Sandee Messel, spokeswoman for SolarMax Technology in Riverside.
The device, which is not yet available in stores, is about the size of a carry-on suitcase and can be mounted on a wall. It can be adjusted to accommodate the most important electronic needs in a house.
FLEX requires no additional components or assembly, but it must be used with solar panels, Messel said.
“It’s 100 percent solar powered, with no connection to the power grid,” Messel said of FLEX , which SolarMax designed with Li-Max Energy in Taiwan. “It’s an energy storage system all in one place.”
The system, which SolarMax is calling the first of its kind to be marketed in the United States, is expected to sell for about $7,000, Messel said.
SolarMax employs 164 people throughout Southern California. The company has installed more than 5,500 residential and commercial solar-powered energy systems since it was founded in 2008, according to a statement
