https://www.metering.com/news/battery-storage-3-million-investment/
17 January 2018
Battery storage world first secures $3 million boost
UK-based Connected Energy's battery storage solution has received a $3
million investment from Australian bank Macquarie Group and French
utility ENGIE.
The investment will fund the growth of Connected Energy’s unique battery
storage systems across the UK and Europe.
This battery storage system is the world’s first commercially available
stationary energy storage platform, which uses retired electric vehicle
battery packs to provide site-integrated energy storage solutions.
“We are delighted that Macquarie and ENGIE have provided this
significant financial and management value for our phase of aggressive
market growth,” said Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy.
“We have a tremendous pipeline of demand for battery-based storage
systems. Our E-STOR system is proven, with very positive feedback from
customers appreciating its full service offering, as well as our low
costs and exceptional sustainability credentials.
"In this uncertain energy landscape we look forward to capitalising on
the burgeoning need for grid balancing schemes through energy storage,
as well as adding to the sustainability of electric vehicles.”
The company has partnered with Renault and Jaguar Land Rover over the
past two years.
Approximately 90% of the used battery can be effectively recycled. This
guarantees the electric vehicle batteries have a lengthened life span,
thereby maximising the energy and carbon used to manufacture them.
The recycling initiative adds to the sustainability credentials of the
vehicles providing the batteries, as well as to Connected Energy.
Matthew Booth, Senior Managing Director in Macquarie’s Commodities and
Global Markets group, said: “We are pleased to have invested in this
innovative company, which has developed an environmentally friendly and
low cost solution to help meet this need.”
“The provision of energy storage to support grid stability and create a
charging network for electric vehicles will be a major theme in power
infrastructure over the coming years,” added Booth.
The lack of standardised processing and technologies is currently the
biggest challenge in the recycling space. “Everyone is using their own
formulation,” said Linda Gaines, an analyst for the Center for
Transportation Research at the Argonne National Laboratory in the US.
