green charge: the energy storage startup transforming a $100 billion market - commercial energy storage systems
The energy storage industry has grown into a $100 billion market and is expected to reach $250 billion by 2040.
This huge valuation is partly due to over 50% of consumer energy bills due to peak-time charges.
Noting the need to make energy use more cost-effective and passionate about improving the planet, an entrepreneur founded a company that aims to change the way we use energy.
Founded in 2009 by Vic Shao, the Green charging network designs and installs commercial energy storage systems.
Their mission is to minimize costs by limiting carbon emissions and by providing services for energy storage, enabling businesses, municipalities and schools of all sizes to use energy more effectively.
Energy storage is designed to help avoid drawing energy from the grid during peak hours, but to charge during normal times when energy is cheaper.
By using energy storage as a way to balance peak power requirements, power efficiency is improved.
This subsequently reduces the cost of demand, reduces the capital expenditure for service upgrades, and improves the planet by reducing the use of power plants.
Green charge is the first market with a return on investment.
Drive energy storage products.
Now, the company is the country's largest commercial energy storage provider with a growing portfolio of over 150 site deployments or 48 MW battery storage projects under construction.
In addition to expanding its business, the startup has successfully helped customers across the United States reduce their electricity costs by 30%.
To date, green charges have raised more than $56 million in two rounds of financing.
In May, green fees are bought by global energy and power companies.
Leading battery storage company.
Green charging leverages an innovative set of patented software algorithms and intelligent data to deploy, own, operate and optimize battery systems in the private and public sectors.
In 2015, the company won the coveted energy storage North America innovation award for its 20MWh California school and utility Trust program.
This is the second year in a row Green control won the award.
I spoke with Green Charge CEO and founder Vic Shaw about the vision behind his company, the future of energy storage and his plans to save millions of dollars in the process while protecting the planet.
With more and more debate on climate change, clean energy has become a hot topic ---
What specific gaps or opportunities do you find behind the idea of driving green charges?
Energy storage is not a new concept.
Department of Energy (DOE)
Has been trying it for decades.
But it's always big.
Scale, installed on the utility side of the meter.
After decades of grinding, it never came out of the lab.
The problem is that there is no large-scale deployment of capital at all for utilities and governments.
The opportunity and main idea behind green charging is that energy storage requires cooperation between the two sides of the meter.
Why do private sector customers want something related to storage?
Because it has a business case.
The energy storage project has a known return on investment.
The trigger for the customer's interests is the idea of reducing the cost of demand.
But, fundamentally, storage is a technology that improves the efficiency of the distribution network, and if we can build it on a large scale, then everyone will benefit --
From taxpayers to utility companies.
In addition to saving money and better managing energy use --
What are the bigger benefits of using energy storage companies like green charging?
Vic Shao: business and industrial organizations can benefit from increasing energy storage in their sustainable development plans, increasing the use of renewable energy, increasing the elasticity of reducing demand costs and supporting the grid.
In addition, the pairing of solar energy and energy storage has great potential in driving the transformation of power grids and industries.
As technology and suppliers mature, further reductions in costs are expected to benefit more customers from solar and storage solutions.
Seeing the growth of companies like Tesla and Solar cities, people are noticing the real revenue potential of clean energy --
Do you see more cities and companies willing to implement smarter solutions to provide clean energy or move to better ways to protect electricity?
Yes, because clean energy can not only reduce costs, it can also increase flexibility and return on investment.
For example, solar and storage solutions can be combined to enable an island-
The ability of the C & I facility to micro-grid has the potential to power critical loads indefinitely.
Combining clean energy solutions can reduce project development costs.
Including customer acquisition, licensing, installation, grid connectivity, etc.
In terms of energy use and protection --
What kind of world do you want to see in the next 5 to 10 years, how realistic do you think this vision is?
We believe that energy storage will provide an efficient and sustainable impetus to the world.
Google recently announced, for example, that its goal is to reach 100% of renewable energy by 2017.
This energy storage must be part of the answer.