Battery Management Systems Remain Crucial in the Energy Storage Revolution

Posted on May 29, 2019May 30, 2019 by Louis Brasington

A key element in the quest for improved performance of batteries is the battery management system (BMS). BMS is the software layer that is responsible for the balancing of cells, protecting batteries from damage and sub-optimal operation. These are applicable to fixed energy storage as well as Electric Vehicle (EV) markets. Growing in parallel with the battery market, the BMS market now sits at $3.2 billion, with a CAGR of 21%, driven largely by the increased volumes of EVs and... Read More »

Could Methanol Become an Important Fuel for Energy and Mobility?

Posted on March 18, 2019March 20, 2019 by Louis Brasington

With a global demand of more than 80 million metric tons and a growth rate of 5.4%, methanol is gaining acceptance. The market is projected to be worth $54 billion by 2021. Its uses vary greatly – from adhesives and PET bottles to fleece jackets, packaging, paints and solvents. A key application is the energy market. China alone, as the largest producer and consumer, accounts for 54% of world demand. Alongside oil, gas and hydrogen, methanol is an important fuel... Read More »

2019 Energy Trends: Answers from Cleantech Innovation Leaders

Posted on February 21, 2019March 1, 2019 by Louis Brasington

At the 2019 Cleantech Forum San Francisco, we launched this year's Global Cleantech 100 Report; an assessment of the companies most likely to make a significant market impact within the next five to ten years. Forty companies in the Energy & Power sector featured on the list. And, last year investment into this sector reached $3.4 billion across 378 equity deals, $900 million more than 2017. We sat down with two of the 2019 Global Cleantech 100 companies, GreenSync and... Read More »

Battery Technology Show Recap: Emerging Battery Technology

Posted on November 12, 2018November 27, 2018 by Louis Brasington

Contributions from: Pirmin Ulmann, co-founder and CEO at b-science.net Last month, I was fortunate enough moderate a session at the Battery Technology Show in London. Here are takeaways from that session as well as some additional insight from our own research. Delegates from across the battery industrial supply chain participated in discussions around the technologies and business model innovations that could disrupt their markets in the next few years. Speakers included topic experts like Billy Wu, a senior lecturer at... Read More »

European Utilities Support UN Development Goals

Posted on August 17, 2018August 17, 2018 by Louis Brasington

Last month, the United National delegates came together in New York, assessing the progress for their Sustainable Development Goals. The focus this year was on how nations can provide access to affordable and reliable energy, water, and safe and resilient cities. The meeting marked three years since the UN committed to reaching universal access to affordable and clean energy by 2030. Large energy corporates have been actively involved in the push across the globe, deploying decentralized energy systems through partnering... Read More »

Announcing the Latest Edition of the Levelized Cost of Storage Report (LCOS 3.0)

Posted on November 13, 2017November 14, 2017 by Dan Gabaldon

Daniel Gabaldon is a co-founder of Enovation Partners. Earlier this month, Enovation released the latest edition of the Levelized Cost of Storage report (LCOS 3.0) in collaboration with the global investment bank Lazard. Here are some reflections on what we learned: Energy storage costs continue to decline rapidly, but… Not all technologies are following at the same pace of improvement. Li-ion has fallen faster over the past year, and is poised to continue a slightly steeper trajectory of cost decline –... Read More »

Unleashing Alexa: How transactive energy could unlock residential energy optimization

Posted on October 25, 2017October 25, 2017 by Ken-Ichi Hino

In our Part 1 on transactive energy (TE), we looked at the path to implementing TE and the types of companies involved. Steve Widergren, principal engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Ed Cazalet, CEO at TEMix, Inc., were interviewed for these posts. I have a confession: I’m slightly obsessive about not running my dishwasher, laundry, and dryer between 7am and 9pm. Why? For the savings… hmm… well, I actually don’t save any money from being a good citizen of the grid... Read More »

Is Lithium-Ion unassailable in stationary energy storage markets?

Posted on July 20, 2017July 20, 2017 by Troy Ault

CTG’s Power Breakfast series is supported by Silicon Valley Bank and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Thank you to our sponsors! At our latest Power Breakfast this past Wednesday, we convened a great panel and room full of energy storage industry players, from start-ups and investors to utilities and project developers. Our panel consisted of: Mark Perutz from DBL Partners, one of the first venture investors in Tesla Ilan Gur, former founder of lithium-ion battery company Seeo (acquired by... Read More »

What City Traders Can Tell Us About the Future of Cleantech

Posted on June 8, 2017June 9, 2017 by Josh Gilbert

In a recent CTG Insights article (a bi-monthly publication written for our i3 subscribers), we examined the lithium-ion battery market, which is composed of several emerging markets such as EVs and grid storage, as well as the decades-established $20B consumer electronics market. With EVs specifically, the nascent market has rapidly grown, with BNEF projecting an 18.2% CAGR from 2013 through 2040, and with the passing of the 2 million mark of EVs on our roads earlier this week, the trend shows... Read More »

Entrenched Incumbents and Seedling Start-ups in Battery Storage Markets – Innovation Finds a Way

Posted on March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 by Josh Gilbert

In the February edition of CTG Insights, our bi-monthly publication highlighting trends we feel should be at the forefront of the minds of cleantech-focused corporates and investors alike, we wrote an article addressing the opportunities in battery storage markets. The lithium-ion battery energy storage market is composed of a few sub-sectors, including the decades-established consumer electronics market, a $20 billion market that has incumbent advantages in both scale and mature supply chains. However, the electric vehicles market has arrived in... Read More »