Solar engineer and ABC Solar founder Brad Bartz will deliver a keynote-style lecture titled “The Palos Verdes Landslide: Who Turned the Power Back On?” during an upcoming community event at AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles on March 14, 2026. The presentation combines scientific storytelling with real-world engineering experience, exploring how fundamental physics principles translate into resilient energy solutions.
Bartz, who founded ABC Solar more than 25 years ago, is known for emphasizing the practical use of solar and battery technologies under challenging conditions. His upcoming lecture starts with a surprising starting point: quantum mechanics.
“Solar energy starts with a quantized energy transfer event – what I call a microscopic fistfight between light and matter,” Bartz explains. “Billions of these tiny interactions happen every second, and together they create the electricity that powers our homes.”
The presentation follows the scientific line from Max Planck’s introduction of energy quanta to Albert Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect – the phenomenon that makes photovoltaic electricity possible. Bartz uses analogies ranging from separating chocolate milk to ping-pong ball photons to help audiences visualize complex physical processes.
But the central story goes beyond the theory.
The lecture draws heavily on Bartz’s firsthand experiences during the Palos Verdes landslide, where widespread infrastructure disruptions created an urgent demand for alternative energy solutions. According to Bartz, the crisis has exposed both the limitations of traditional generators and the potential of mobile solar battery systems.
“We’ve learned that energy doesn’t just have to be generated, it has to be able to move,” he said.
That lesson led to the development of Rolling Battery, a mobile solar energy platform designed to quickly deploy clean energy to homes and facilities without excavation or fuel supply chains. During early deployments, Bartz reports that mobile solar systems have restored power to multiple homes in one day, demonstrating a new model for distributed energy resilience.
The concept has since evolved into ongoing installations at AltaSea itself, where portable solar battery systems currently support tenants in navigating network interconnection and permitting timelines. Bartz notes that the success of mobile energy solutions on land has also inspired a maritime vision.
His talk will introduce the concept of Floating Battery – a distributed energy platform designed to support the growing adoption of electric boats by providing bi-directional charging capabilities and daisy chain power networks in port environments.
“Electric ships are coming, but the charging infrastructure remains the bottleneck,” Bartz said. “Floating energy systems can help bridge that gap while providing backup power to coastal communities.”
AltaSea’s existing rooftop solar installation, consisting of approximately 3,000 panels connected directly to the grid, serves as a real-time demonstration of distributed renewable energy integration. Bartz emphasizes that while the system supplies power to the broader utility network, local buildings are effectively powered by sunlight through the dynamics of the electrical grids.
The presentation concludes with a broader philosophical message that links quantum-scale energy interactions to community-level resilience.
“The landslide didn’t just move land,” Bartz said. “It moved power – and once power can move, everything changes.”
About AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles
AltaSea is a public-private ocean innovation campus focused on sustainability, marine sciences and technology development in the blue economy.
About Brad Bartz: Brad Bartz is the founder of ABC Solar Incorporated, a renewable energy engineering company specializing in solar and battery systems for residential, commercial and resiliency-oriented applications.
