Start-up Ampd Energy hopes to oust noisy, dirty diesel backup generators
Power blackout in Sumatra was light-bulb moment for entrepreneurs who created battery silo to replace fossil-fuel generator
Hong Kong start-up Ampd Energy hopes to make diesel generators obsolete with its battery-powered energy storage system, especially in countries like Indonesia and India which often suffer power failures.
The Ampd Silo, which runs on lithium-ion batteries and has a 17 kilowatt hour capacity, could provide four hours of uninterrupted power to a three-bedroom house or a 10-person office, Ampd Energy chief executive Brandon Ng said.
The start-up, which joined Hong Kong Science and Technology Park’s Incu-Tech incubation programme in 2015, hopes to replace diesel generators as back-up power sources. Once the Ampd Silo is hooked up to a building, it can provide uninterrupted power the moment it detects a break in the usual electricity supply, with no transition time in-between.
“You won’t even know that there is a blackout unless you look outside and see that everyone has lost power,” Ng said.
The Ampd Silo also required little to no maintenance, the company said, compared with diesel generators that needed to be maintained regularly to ensure the engine was kept lubricated and the battery would not die.