Everyone has experienced it: you are eating dinner or watching a great movie when all of a sudden the lights go out. We often take for granted the ease of life with electricity at our fingertips. Larry Henderson, CEO of Backup Power Source, has created a business based on helping people avoid the irritation and possible catastrophes of going without power.
Larry, along with his wife Sharon and three children, moved to Slayton, Minnesota 26 years ago. After a career change, Larry thought he would make a go at being self-employed. Larry and a friend founded Backup Power Source in 2002. Backup Power Source provides off grid, grid assist, and grid tie-in products. These technologies make it possible to supplement fossil fuel energy use or even replace it all together with sustainable technologies, such as solar-electric panels or wind turbines.
In Larry’s eyes, realizing that the solution to energy dependence and supply is a long-term process is one of the most important things we can do. Larry hopes to grow Backup Power Source into a two to three million dollar business with 10 employees, six outside sales people and a presence in the third world market. This will be accomplished through ingenious projects like the one everyone sees as they enter Windom, Minnesota: the ‘Welcome to Windom’ city signs. The city wanted to install and power three new signs. The cost to run power to the city sign that was installed first was $8,000 a year. Backup Power source installed the other two for less than $3,000 each, using one of their off grid solar panel systems. This means that in addition to the fact that the upfront costs were less than half of the power bill for the other city sign, there are no on-going energy costs for these signs as they are using renewable energy!
Larry has been involved with YES! for several years. In addition to having judged YES! projects and exhibited at YES! events, Larry has also employed a former YES! coordinator. Minnesota appears to be gaining traction in clean energy. Backup Power source hopes to contribute to the clean energy business sector by providing energy solutions as energy usage, prices, and interruptions increase. With a growing population and an increasing demand for electricity, we need people willing to step up to the challenge of finding energy solutions and providing a quality of life that is many times taken for granted.
