Reduce downtime at remote production facilities

Your questions, answered.

• What does a Torus Station cost?

  Qualifying Rocky Mountain Power, Pacific Power, and Portland General Electric customers pay no capital cost — the utility covers it. You pay a monthly subscription for monitoring and maintenance, which is typically less than your bill savings (and that's not including savings from prevented downtime or machine damage). Outside those territories, Torus offers energy as a service, a single monthly payment covering your full system, or direct purchase options.

• Will installation disrupt our operations?

  Part of the installation process requires a brief scheduled outage, typically around 2 hours, to connect to your facility's line-side bus. This can be planned around production hours or overnight windows. The rest of the installation happens outside the facility with no impact to operations.

• How does Torus handle the variable loads at mills and batch plants?

  Torus continuously learns your facility's load patterns — kiln ramp-ups, saw motor startups, paper machine cycling, and seasonal shifts. The system adapts automatically as production changes without manual reconfiguration.

• How do I reduce demand charges at a lumber mill or concrete plant?

  Demand charges are based on your single highest peak in a billing period. For lumber mills, that's usually driven by simultaneous saw startups and kiln loads. For paper mills, it's large paper machine motors and converting lines. For concrete operations, kilns, crushers, and mixers set the peak. The most effective approach is automated peak shaving: a system that learns your load profile and discharges stored energy the moment demand approaches a set ceiling, preventing peaks before your meter registers them. Torus does this automatically and adapts as your production schedule changes.

• What are the backup power options for remote sawmills and quarries?

  The three primary options are diesel generators, standalone battery systems, and full-stack energy storage like Torus. Generators are effective for long-duration outages but have a 5–30 second transfer time that drops loads, require ongoing fuel and maintenance, and provide no value between outages. Standalone batteries provide backup but don't address voltage correction, peak shaving, or load shifting. Torus provides sub-second backup power, voltage protection, and automated cost reduction in a single system — delivering value every day, not just during outages.