A Sesame Solar mobile and renewable energy-powered nanogrid. Source: Sesame Solar.

Sesame Solar introduced mobile and renewable energy-powered nanogrids for use in providing electricity and powering critical network infrastructure in disaster scenarios like extreme weather events related to climate change.

The tech was originally designed to use solar power alone, but in locations receiving less sunlight "it was difficult for our solution to be as effective as it could be," Sesame Solar CEO Lauren Flanagan explained in an email to SDxCentral.

The company's newest iteration of its nanogrids use green hydrogen supplementally with solar power, allowing the pop-up energy systems to provide clean energy 24/7, Flanagan said, adding it can be set up and operational in 15 minutes. The term green hydrogen, as opposed to blue hydrogen, means the energy used to power electrolysis — which is the process of creating hydrogen gas by splitting water atoms — comes from renewable sources rather fossil fuels.

Sesame Solar's 10- to 40-foot long nanogrids use a closed-loop energy generation and storage system with an energy management tool that optimizes available resources. The grids' solar array charges the batteries, and battery power is managed by an inverter and other electronics, Flanagan explained. Once the battery hits 35% capacity, a hydrogen fuel cell powers the inverter.

This is when electrolysis happens, meaning "the solid-state hydrogen storage tanks are being refilled with hydrogen while hydrogen is being consumed by the fuel cell," she said. Green hydrogen is then stored at low pressure conditions onboard the nanogrids in solid-state hydrogen tanks for safe transport.

Once the solar arrays fully recharge the battery, the hydrogen fuel cell shuts down and electrolysis continues until the storage tanks are full, and then it shuts itself off. This system ensures the nanogrids can be "energy-independent and ready for the next extreme weather emergency with continuous, 100% fossil fuel-free power generation," Flanagan said.

Sesame Solar has worked with Comcast to use previous solar nanogrid models to aid communication recovery following Hurricane Ida, and the U.S. Air Force has purchased its solar plus green hydrogen nanogrids.

Sesame Solar's next step is shifting its business model "to provide mobile renewable power as a service (MRPaaS) to enable large organizations to contract and deploy solar [and] green hydrogen-powered solutions in advance of wildfire, hurricane, tornado, and flood seasons, and to more rapidly respond to the need for power and essential services after earthquakes, cyberattacks, or other catastrophic events," Flanagan said.