n September of 2007, The Alpha Group was called into a major provider of specialized US homeland defense products and services to make a presentation on its enclosures, power systems and solar applications.

At that time, the leading competing candidate for this contract had recently sold their power division, thus opening the door for The Alpha Group. The quote would be for a complete powering solution for a large security project aimed at monitoring and preventing illegal cross-border traffic in and out of the United States.

The scope of the project would involve several thousand cell tower locations utilizing DC power, solar and wind energy equipment. The customer needed to maximize range and coverage and minimize the number of security sites while incorporating multiple energy sources, as many remote locations would not have access to grid power.

A collaborative team of specialists from Argus Technologies comprising of Sales Reps John Younts and Ted Burk, Applications Engineer Barry Bell and Regional Sales Manager Duffy Heffernan went about the challenge of designing a -48V, 1200 Amp power system with two-tiers of distribution, a Cordex controller and an INEX inverter system. Deka batteries were chosen to support the initial grid design.

Alpha Energy Regional Sales Manager Richard Thorne was consulted to support this effort with a Solar Hybrid Power System (HPS). This renewable energy solution uses solar energy in combination with a battery bank and generator. By incorporating multiple power sources, this solution extends system life by reducing generator runtime to cut down on expensive refueling trips and features advanced control and alarm functions to the industry standard Modbus Protocol.

To date, the customer has purchased multiple sites of Alpha and Argus equipment for installation scheduled to begin in late 2008. Due to the large number of planned sites, this project is expected to last well into the next decade. The Alpha Group was successful winning this business for several reasons: superior solutions that seamlessly integrate power and alternative energy, solution-oriented teamwork between different business units and tenacious commitment to service.