Intertie

Intertie Incorporated is a Bay Area clean energy technology company that designs, installs, operates and maintains microgrid systems for commercial buildings. Its product portfolio spans solar-plus-storage, EV charging hardware and software, and building controls and automation, delivered as an end-to-end, turnkey offering in which Intertie builds the system, manages it and shares the resulting economics with the property owner.

A central element is the EV ChargePod, a modular microgrid under development that integrates an underground battery energy storage system, solar PV, battery-boosted ultra-fast EV charging and electric services. The design is intended to reduce charging costs, minimize the real estate footprint of charging stations, allow chargers and storage to be sited where they are most convenient, and mitigate grid impacts from fast charging. Intertie's charging software manages power within a building's electrical load constraints and can charge any type of EV; its app lets drivers start and stop sessions, monitor vehicle status and pay automatically, and its proprietary chargers include digital signage that can be used for notifications or advertising.

The company frames the value proposition around California's shifting commercial electricity rate structures, which lower the value of midday solar credits and raise evening rates, and around traditional solar's inability to provide backup power. Intertie positions intelligent onsite storage plus software optimization as the response, offering reduced utility costs, increased reliability, backup power for tenants, and additional revenue streams from EV charging, LEED points, Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits and state rebate programs.

Founding story

Richard Mrlik founded Intertie after developing a large integrated solar carport and EV charging facility in southern California. During that project he found that the grid could not accommodate the full capacity of both solar generation and EV charging, which constrained charger deployment and made grid upgrades costly and time consuming. He also observed that commercial property owners wanted the benefits of clean energy — lower costs, greater control and reliability, tenant amenities, new revenue and environmental benefits — but faced interconnection difficulties and storage that was unsightly, hard to site and expensive. The concept that followed was a smart microgrid with EV charging that is easy to connect to the public grid, can locate storage and charging anywhere, functions as an "energy ATM" for the building, and minimizes modifications to existing building infrastructure.

Business model

Intertie sells an end-to-end, turnkey clean energy system: it designs and builds the installation, operates it, and handles maintenance, while its software optimizes energy use continuously. The company combines hardware, software and services in a single offering for commercial property owners.

Property-owner economics described by the company include reduced utility costs from onsite solar and storage, ongoing EV charging revenue billed per kWh or per minute, Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits, LEED points, and state-sponsored rebates and incentives that lower capital outlay. Proprietary chargers also support monetized digital-signage advertising.

Traction

Selected for the CalSEED concept award with $150,000 in grant funding to design, build and test an EV ChargePod prototype; selected as a recipient of the California Energy Commission's BRIDGE 2020 grant; and selected for Shell GameChanger's EV fast charging cohort as winner of the Shell GameChanger Global Fast Charging Challenge.

Latest developments

Intertie is developing its next-generation EV ChargePod, a battery-boosted ultra-fast charging and modular microgrid platform targeting gas-station-like charging convenience, supported by CalSEED, California Energy Commission BRIDGE and Shell GameChanger programs.