Balqon’s Battery Storage System Powers Up a Building at the University of California, Riverside

Balqon Corporation’s 1 Mega Watt Hour Battery Storage System Went Live on May 5^th, 2012 – Powering the Bourns College of Engineering Building at the University of California, Riverside

Balqon to Supply Lithium Battery Storage and Trolley Bus for Phase II

HARBOR CITY, California. — May 7, 2012—Balqon Corporation (OTCBB: BLQN), a developer of electric vehicles, drive systems and lithium battery storage devices, announced today that on May 5, 2012, a one Megawatt Hour (“MWh”) lithium battery storage system installed by Balqon Corporation at the University of California, Riverside (“UCR”) went operational, providing electric power to the Bourns College of Engineering building. The one MWh battery storage system installed at UCR is one of the largest battery storage systems installed by Balqon and includes lithium batteries and Balqon’s proprietary components, such as Balqon’s 160 kilo Watt (“kW”) battery charger, Balqon’s 240 kW flux vector inverter, Balqon’s battery management system and related power electronics components.

“The six month development period for our battery storage system that is now operational at UCR certainly tested the limits of our inverter and charger technologies.  The development period has been an educationally rewarding process for us and has expanded our interest in addressing opportunities in the lithium battery energy storage market.  We are using the technologies developed during the UCR project to address other lithium battery storage opportunities related to cell towers and solar and wind energy systems” said Balwinder Samra, Chief Executive Officer of Balqon Corporation. “The use of battery storage systems for peak-shaving applications, where batteries are charged during off-peak hours and the energy stored during that time is used during peak hours, may be an economically viable solution for large commercial buildings and educational institutions,” Samra added.

In January, 2012, the Center for Environmental Research and Technology at the Bourns College of Engineering at UCR received a $2 million award for a two-year project, supported by theSouth Coast Air Quality Management District (“AQMD”) and involving a number of public and private partners, to build solar arrays, advanced battery storage, vehicle charging stations, an electric trolley, and a grid management system to provide clean energy to clean vehicles efficiently. The installation of Balqon’s energy storage system is part this larger project at UCR.  Reza Abbaschian, dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at UCR, stated that this larger “project will allow us to help the City of Riverside make a huge leap toward in realizing its Green Action Plan.”  “Our research capabilities, combined with the expertise and resources of our industry and municipal agency partners, promises to provide clean, renewable energy solutions in the years ahead,” Abbaschian added.  “We’re pleased that AQMD recognized the benefits of this project,” said Reza Abbaschian. “This is yet another example of our commitment to smart-grid energy solutions that integrate solar energy generation, battery storage, and distribution that are at the core of the mission of CE-CERT and our new Winston Chung Global Energy Center,” he added.

The Winston Chung Global Energy Center is a new venture funded by Balqon’s Chairman of the Board, Chinese inventor, entrepreneur and Fellow of Bourns College at UCR, Winston Chung. Chung’s company, Winston Global Energy, will donate 2-megawatts of rare earth lithium-ion batteries for the project. Balqon, will assist in the conversion of the trolley and in the installation of a additional battery storage, charging and distribution system similar to 1.1-megawatt battery storage system installed by Balqon at the Bourns College of Engineering at UCR.

Balqon to Collaborate with CE-CERT On $ 2 Million Deployment of Solar Electric Transportation System

Soon after May 5th, 2012, successful implementation of a 1.1 Mwh lithium battery storage unit at the Bourns College of Engineering Building at the University of California, Riverside, Balqon and UCR have set their eyes on even bigger goal, on  making the UCR campus as the first 100% renewable energy powered transportation system.  This $ 2.0 million dollar project funded by South Coast Air Quality Management District involves development of electric transportation system that is powered by Solar Power serving UCR Campus and nearby Riverside Community.

Project involves collaboration between Balqon Corporation (BLQN.OB), Bourns Inc., Solar Max, Winston Global Energy, The City of Riverside, Riverside Public Utilities, Riverside Transit Agency and UCR Physical Plant. It is clear from the team assembled that this collaborative effort is just the beginning to demonstrate that electric transportation can be achieved using sustainable renewable energy without any impact on environment; True Zero Emissions Transportation.

How this Zero Emission Transportation System is envisioned to work is to capture solar energy to charge 2 Mwh of lithium batteries and use the stored energy to charge Trolley bus and other electric vehicles in the Campus creating a  campus that is truly sustainable energy transportation model.  Meanwhile energy stored in the batteries will also be used to power the Bourns Engineering college and CE-CERT buildings. Initial project involves setting up charging station for vehicles and converting the diesel powered shuttle bus to electric bus using Balqon drive system and battery technology. This project is just a beginning and a modest step to showcase how University campuses throughout the country can be operated using sustainable renewable energy.

With use of electric vehicles on the rise, especially with higher percentage users being young college students, it is prudent that university campuses start looking at how to create sustainable energy supply for these new EV users before the campuses get overwhelmed with electricity demand that local utilities can not  support.  As an example, University of Riverside has over 20,692 students, even with 1% of the students owning and operating electric vehicles in the campus , the total daily energy requirement for charging can easily exceed 6 Mwh.  This combined with faculty vehicles, commercial vehicles and campus shuttle buses the total daily electricity need can exceed 10 Mwh in the next three years.  UCR and AQMD vision to put together a collaborative of industry experts to start addressing the sustainability issue now is commendable and forward thinking. In addition this knowledge base can be the model for other universities that have not prepared for this eventuality.

Build it and they will come mentality of this project does have a backup plan if electric vehicle adoption is slower than anticipated.  University plans include connecting the same 2 Mwh battery storage system to the grid with unused power generated by solar panels used to power campus buildings.  This strategy is expected to lower energy costs in the meantime and avoid brown outs during the hot summer months in Riverside, where power outages are all too frequent. Meanwhile Balqon Corporation and other collaborative partners are busy developing technologies to create  another first in the industry of sustainable renewable communities.

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