The firm started with electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints and quickly grew to 1,000 chargepoints, which it got pre-qualified for Sweden’s ancillary services market. Today, the portfolio comprises chargepoints, solar, wind, hydro and data centres but the bulk is large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), accounting for 95% of its trading activity.

“We realised in mid-2021 that it was with our trading algorithms was where we could create the most value and that’s how we really started growing in the battery space,” Diklev says.

He says there are around 10 competitors that can optimise batteries but that Flower manages half of the roughly 50MW of batteries that are pre-qualified for ancillary services in Sweden, a success which he says is down to its emphasis on optimising revenues.

Notable projects include a 10MW BESS owned by distribution network operator (DNO) Ellevio and a 5MW one owned by another DNO Nybro Energi, both one-hour systems.

A 10MW battery energy storage system (BESS) project owned by distribution network operator Ellevio and optimised by Flower. Image: Flower / Ellevio.

Sweden’s large-scale BESS market

Diklev says the market kicked off with “exceptional” prices in the ancillary services market in early 2021, of €70-80 per MW per hour, as well as an energy reservoirs pilot programme by Sweden’s transmission system operator (TSO) that allowed continuous trading in energy markets with shorter activation periods.

Exactly why prices increased is still a bit unclear but one suggestion is that hydropower operators re-evaluated the wear and tear on their assets from supplying fast-reacting ancillary services and so priced their services higher.

Hydropower is still the driving factor setting the prices but Sweden’s battery buildout may mean batteries start to displace it at some point in the next 12-36 months according to forecasts based on publicly announced megawatts.

Diklev: “The Nordic markets are waking up. If you look at our pipeline of projects it will grow by six to eight times in 2023, and market growth could be even higher. There are a lot of batteries being built, a lot of investment, and the question is when will this fairly limited market saturate and what is operators’ transition plan from that?”

Commercial model and long-term view

“We’ve been pretty open-minded on this, as it’s important to understand the type of investor behind the asset, what their financial structure is and how we can be a good partner to that. But typically it’s been a revenue-share model,” Diklev says.

This is also the case in the UK market where nearly most BESS projects are optimised by a third party.

Diklev believes the firm can create the most value through entering into long-term financial trading on top of more short-term trading strategies, which necessitates long-term partnerships with asset owners. He expects a shift in Nordic market battery revenues from ancillary services to wholesale trading as is starting to happen in the UK.

“We would argue that the largest long-term value drivers for flexibility will be supporting the grid by deferring capex, alleviating short-term constraints and managing volatility of renewables in financial trading by being able to utilise portfolio assets to be able to handle long-term risk.”

“So, we want to find partners who are willing to own assets with the same long-term vision as us who is willing to give us, say, a five or 10 year contract as an optimiser. Because without that long-term contract it’s hard for us to then into a similarly long-term contract providing flexibility services using our portfolio of assets.”

“It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario because how do you prove long-term profitability without having done it already, since the market is so new? That’s where we might be open to owning some quantity of batteries long-term in order to prove the business model, but only if it necessitates it.”

Expanding beyond Sweden and long-term plans

The firm is already live in Denmark and the next markets on its horizon are Belgium, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Expansion abroad will be primarily through managing utility-scale BESS, though its first foray in Denmark has been using EV chargepoints to provide demand response services.

The firm finished 2023 with just under SEK100 million in annual revenue (€9 million/US$10 million), 20 times more than 2022’s SEK5 million, and has so far raised around SEK120 million SEK in investment. DNO Ellevio owns just under 20% of Flower.

John Diklev.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 20-21 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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That has led it to having around 600MW of battery energy storage system (BESS) assets in operation and construction, and a pipeline of more than 9,000MW of opportunities.

Key Capture Energy’s proactive approach to market scouting has seen it establish a significant presence in Texas’ booming ERCOT market, as well as more recently being one of the pioneers of BESS in New York, delivering the state’s first grid-scale BESS a couple of years ago.

When we last spoke to Jeff Bishop, it was the emergence of the Midwest MISO market that he said would be among the next and biggest opportunities for battery storage, following the passing of an energy storage target alongside a net zero emissions goal in Michigan.

The Key Capture Energy (KCE) CEO has taken part in our year-end retrospectives in the past, offering his views on everything from the growing need to invest in software and financial modelling to the need for clean energy issues to transcend political boundaries, in early 2022.

However, this year’s Q&A is a little different: it marks what is very most likely Bishop’s last interaction with Energy-Storage.news in his role as KCE’s CEO.

In August the company announced that he would be stepping down to take a break and pursue new challenges, and his successor Brian Hayes – formerly executive VP of asset operations & transmission at EDP Renewables – takes office on 8 January 2024.

What did 2023 mean for the energy storage industry, both from your own company’s perspective and in bigger picture terms?

In 2023, the battery storage industry stopped sitting at the kid’s table. I founded Key Capture Energy in 2016, and until now, storage has been a part of the up and coming and exciting, but not yet proven technologies. 2023 was when the investor class fully realised that batteries deliver, both operationally this past summer in Texas, and financially – with higher return hurdles than other clean energy investments. The industry is established and is fully financeable, so we are entering a new phase for energy storage projects.

For KCE, this was a year for us to focus internally to be ready for the next stage of growth. Yes – we brought online 220MW of new projects, and had a record revenue year, but every development company needs to undergo a transformation from being a development company with an operations arm to an operations company with a development arm. This year we focused on execution and building out our asset operations team. KCE is about to hit its next stage of growth, we had to build internally to make sure we were ready.

How are energy storage projects and different market opportunities evolving, as technologies and stakeholder understanding mature?

From a recent Roland Berger study, energy storage is the most attractive asset within energy infrastructure. Energy storage equity is undervalued. I’ve been saying that for the last three years, but investors are starting to hear the message that equity is not being priced correctly.

Fifteen years ago, wind and solar projects were undervalued on the equity side because no one understood the lifetime of a project is often longer than initially expected or that projects will be repowered.

So, with the existing asset and the interconnection already there, it has tremendous unaccounted for value. That same story is now playing out for battery storage; new investors in 2023 have started to embrace the value of these projects.

The last couple of years saw significant supply chain challenges for the industry, particularly around lithium battery and battery materials. Have those constraints eased and what sort of supply chain dynamics are you seeing in the industry going forward?

It’s exciting, no? Sure – the past few years the supply chain has been challenging – but that’s what we all signed up for, right? We’re in a new industry so we should expect that there are going to be a few more times there is not alignment between supply and demand.

As of the end of 2023, we have seen the supply chain catch up at least on the battery side. Going forward and for the next couple of years, there will continue to be some challenges with long-lead construction items like main power transformers, but overall, we are in a much better place supply chain wise than we were a year ago.

As storage developers and owners – we signed up for this. There’s a reason why we aren’t in solar.

What are some major trends in energy storage technologies that readers should keep an eye out for?

Lithium-ion. No, for real.

In the solar sector in the mid-2000s there were about a dozen competing technologies that triggered investment and media, but they all lost to the basic solar photovoltaic technology. Solar PV started getting deployed, creating an unstoppable feedback loop of incremental efficiency gains and supply chain consolidation. Over a 15-year timeline, that combination dominated the market.

KCE’s Jeff Bishop (front row, far left), at a 2022 event with non-profit Utah Clean Energy. Image: Key Capture Energy.

It’s the same now with lithium-ion. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really exciting technologies out there and I wish everyone the best but look at cost curves. It’s going to take a lot of time for the new entrants to come to the market in a truly cost competitive way.

It’s not sexy and doesn’t get clicks – but watch and report on the incremental lithium-ion gains on the density and efficiency side. Pay attention to what’s boring – that is what is going to have a big impact.

What should the industry’s main priorities be in 2024?

Continued focus on safety in all respects. Yes – the day-to-day safety, but also the macro cybersecurity side. We have to get this right.

Besides that, unlock more markets. There are many states with projected capacity shortfalls with planned coal retirements and no clear set plans to replace that capacity. The industry needs to look at the markets that are going to need our services where stakeholders and regulators may not fully understand the benefits of battery storage and make sure that the potential growth actually comes to fruition.

As you step away from your role as CEO at KCE, is there anything else you’d like to share?

When Dan Fitzgerald and I started KCE in 2016, there were 200MW of battery storage in the New York interconnection queue, and today it is over 35,000MW. We all know where the industry is headed.

The growth is not always a straight line and there will be challenges, but the next five to ten years are about deployment, bringing projects online and making the clean energy transition of the electric grid a reality.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 6th Energy Storage Summit USA, 19-20 March 2024 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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Ventolines is overseeing the technical aspects of development related to the project while Begro Energy Projects is the project’s primary developer.

The zoning plan was made available on 20 December 2023, and is available for inspection by local residents until 31 January 2024. Building the project, called Westermeerdijk Energy Storage, would require an amendment to the existing zoning plan. Because of its scale there were no applicable regulations or policies to proceed with it, the municipality said.

In July 2023, the Provincial Council of Flevoland province, where Noordoostpolder is, agreed to an ‘Experimental Framework for Large-scale Energy Storage Projects Flevoland’ for three projects in the province include Begro’s.

It is being planned for a 4 hectare site adjoining a high-voltage substation run by Netherlands’ transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT. A portion of the BESS will be directly connected to TenneT’s network to be able to provide flexibility and balancing services to the TSO.

Two other portions of the project will be connected to the substation as well as the 430MW Noordoostpolder wind farm, helping to balance the intermittency in the plant’s generation.

Begro and Ventolines are expected to be able to proceed with permit applications in 2024, with construction in 2025 for commercial operations in 2026.

Commenting on the project, Noordoostpolder councillor Toon van Steen: “Spatially, this fits in nicely with the generation location on the Westtermeerdijk. In this way we cluster generation and storage and use the existing energy infrastructure and sustainably generated energy efficiently.”

Rens Savenije, business lead system integrator for Ventolines added: “This project is a perfect example of a combination of wind farms, solar parks, and batteries near the same high-voltage station. This is system integration at its best, positioning us as pioneers in the market.”

TenneT recently said the Netherlands needs 9GW of new BESS by 2030 but the development of the market is currently lagging behind Belgium and Germany for deployments, both from a regulatory perspective as highlighted by Noordoostpolder municipality but also a highly congested grid.

The country’s largest BESS at 30MW/68MWh came online last month. Other developers looking to progress projects of similar scale to Westtermeerdijk include Lion Storage, which discussed the Dutch market in detail in an interview with Energy-Storage.news last year.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 20-21 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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Under the terms of the latest update, the BESS development portfolio has been more than doubled to 1,150MWh. The systems would be deployed at five separate Masdar-developed large-scale renewable energy projects around the Central Asian Republic state: four solar PV plants and one wind plant.   

The announcement made by Masdar on 28 December followed Uzbekistan’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s attendance at a ceremony held the day before (pictured above) to connect 1.4GW of Masdar-developed solar PV and wind energy projects to the country’s grid.

At that event, Mirziyoyev highlighted the important relationship between the two countries – Masdar’s three main shareholders are Abu Dhabi state entities – and Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi described Uzbekistan as a “key strategic destination” for his company, having been the first to finance the country’s first independent power producer (IPP) solar project which it brought online in 2021.

Uzbekistan is one of the world’s biggest natural gas producing countries, and gas accounted for 90.5% of domestic energy generation in 2019, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Nearly all of its renewable energy generation to date has been from hydroelectric power, which accounted for just over 1% of the mix in 2019.

The country is targeting the deployment of 7GW of solar PV and 5GW of wind by 2030 and equivalent to 30% of energy demand, making Masdar a significant player in arriving at those goals. In late 2022 the company won a solicitation for Bukhara solar PV plant, which will feature a 126MWh BESS alongside 250MW of solar PV and in June 2023 was awarded the Guzar project, pairing 300MW solar with 75MWh of energy storage capacity.

Another Middle Eastern developer, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, signed agreements to develop 1.2GW of energy storage in the country as well as 1.4GW of solar in March last year, while during a state visit to Uzbekistan by French president Emmanuel Macron, France-headquartered developer Voltalia signed agreements to progress a hybrid solar-wind-battery project with a 60MW/240MWh BESS as well as another battery storage project of undetermined sizing at a 100MW wind project.

Masdar emerged from the recent COP28 talks – of which the UAE held the presidency – with numerous clean energy development agreements and deals around the world, including 3.6GW in Uzbekistan’s neighbouring Kyrgyz Republic.

Our colleagues at PV Tech rounded up some of the biggest of those deals pertaining to solar PV that were announced as Emirati politician Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, head of Masdar and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (one of Masdar’s three shareholders), chaired the COP28 talks.  

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Credit: NAVFAC

SinglePoint subsidiary Boston Solar has partnered with Energizer Solar to launch the collaboration’s home battery solution in the North American market.

Previously introduced to the Australia, Germany and U.K. markets, the collaboration provides multiple solar products and will enable Boston Solar to provide energy storage systems to their new and existing customer base. 

“This new partnership continues to build upon Boston Solar’s credence in providing the best customer service, the best products, and the best experience available in the industry,” says Wil Ralston, CEO of SinglePoint. “Our team sets ourselves apart from the competition as proud partners of the Boston Red Sox and now by bringing Energizer Solar’s suite of renewable products to the US in partnership with 8 Star Energy. Energizer is a household name when it comes to batteries with global brand recognition and a welcome addition to the renewable energy market.” 

The offerings include energy storage systems ranging from 3.8 kw to 45.6 kw and 8 kwh to 112 kwh. 

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The two 6MW/24MWh BESS units will be built at existing solar projects owned by PNM in Bernalillo County and Valencia County to expand the capacity of overloaded feeders at the two locations.

Feeders are types of power lines which distribute electricity across different parts of the grid, often from substations to distribution networks.

In its application to the NMPRC for the projects in May 2023, PNM said the BESS units would assist in providing improved voltage support and power quality on the two overloaded feeders, increase their hosting capacity for more residential solar and assist in meeting load growth.

Furthermore, the BESS units would reduce the costs of future system upgrades needed for PNM subsidiary Public Service Company of New Mexico to ensure a safe and reliable service for customers.

PNM called the projects a “…new endeavor and a fundamental first step in PNM’s solutions for maintaining increasingly decentralised and multi-directional grid in a safe, reliable, and resilient manner”.

Its application stated that it aims to have the projects online by June 2024 and wanted their approval no later than 31 December, 2023. However in its announcement of the approval last week it said the projects would be online ‘in 2024.’

PNM chose Burns & McDonnell to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and system integrator Powin to provide the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS technology for the two projects.

The total cost for the projects will be ‘in the range of’ US$25.84 million, of which US$17.8 million is the BESS itself, with US$5 million for the EPC and just over US$3 million on taxes, loads and ‘Allowances for Funds Used During Construction’ (AFUDC).

New Mexico was one of a handful of US states to set an energy storage deployment target last year, passing a bill in March that meant its investor-owned utilities PNM, SPS and EPE will need to have 2GW/7GWh of energy storage online by 2034.

Although much smaller in scale, the projects by PNM appear to be similar in function to so-called ‘Grid Booster’ projects seen in Germany and Lithuania.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 20-21 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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According to the renewable asset operator, it will acquire 90% of the Thuringia project in two phases, with the project developer and seller to remain invested with 10%.

The grid-scale BESS market in Germany has picked up in the past year, as explored in a special report in an edition of our quarterly journal PV Tech Power last year.

Most recently, developed Kyon Energy revealed it had sold nearly 200MW of projects to investor Obton as part of a 600MW framework agreement while a 100MW/200MWh project started construction in Arzberg, both announced in December.

Tion withdraws from UK BESS project

Wind and solar project are prominent within Tion’s portfolio, however in November 2022 it acquired its first BESS project – a 8MW/9.3MWh in Bacup in the northwest of England.

Although the project was expected to go live in the first half of 2023, the company confirmed in the same release announcing its Germany acquisition that it has exercised its right to withdraw from the purchase agreement in December 2023, due to “to subsequent delays in the construction phase, in particular relating to the grid connection.”

Grid connection delays represents one of the major challenges to deploying BESS, in the UK and elsewhere, with interconnection queues flooded by far more projects than can be built or accomnodated for with network upgrades.

UK transmission system operator (TSO) National Grid recently took steps to accelerate the connection of some 10GW of large-scale BESS projects by up to four years, covered by our sister site Current.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 20-21 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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The Carribean nation’s president Luis Abinader attended the ceremony to launch the project, which will feature 101.152MWp of solar PV. The attached four-hour BESS will help to shift that power into periods of lower generation.

The technology provider of the BESS has not yet been revealed nor when the project is expected to come online.

The CNE said that Dominicana Azul will generate 176.4GWh of energy a year for dispatch on the National Interconnected Energy System (SENI or Sistema Energético Nacional Interconectado), reducing 1000 tons of CO2 emissions.

The project, which is being built in the municipality of Cabrera, María Trinidad Sánchez province, is being developed and built by Zenith Energy Corp. The country shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west.

The government of the Dominican Republic has recently recognised the need for energy storage to integrate intermittent renewable energy generation, and the CNE recently issued two resolutions to kickstart the market.

The first, CNE-AD-0003-2023, declared the need for battery storage for its ‘Energy Arbitration’ service with primary sources of variable renewable energy in the electricity market. The second, CNE-AD-0004-2023, established the guidelines for the administrative treatment of the technology in the electricity market.

The CNE added there are several projects undergoing review to add energy storage to solar generation.

Island nations in the Caribbean and globally are deploying energy storage along with renewables to ensure dispatchable, reliable generation as they phase out fossil fuels, usually imported from abroad at very high cost.

In December, Energy-Storage.news reported on projects in the US Virgin Islands and St Kitts & Nevis being deployed by Honeywell and Leclanché respectively, while in July regulators in Barbados ordered a four-year pilot of battery storage technology using a 50MW system.

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‘Storage & Smart Power’ by Energy-Storage.news

As always, ‘Storage & Smart Power’, the section of the journal contributed by our team at Energy-Storage.news, returns. 

Just like the main PV Tech Power journal, our dedicated coverage includes in-depth looks at the US market post-IRA, asking what the industry has learned so far, and what might be expected going forward. Articles in this edition include:

Augmentation strategies to manage long-term battery degradation

Strategies for managing and mitigating degradation of batteries come under the spotlight in a piece from Giriraj Rathore, business strategy manager at Wärtsilä Energy.

Energy storage and energy density: an EPC’s view

Ben Echeverria and Josh Tucker from Burns & McDonnell on how the industry should be thinking about energy density and its impact on everything from footprint to cost.

Australia needs renewables, transmission and lots of storage to quit fossil fuels

The country voted for a government that ran on a climate-friendly platform, for the first time taking on the net zero challenge. Stephanie Bashir of Nexa Advisory looks at what needs to happen for Australia to quit coal.

You can download your digital copy of PV Tech Power 37 via our subscription service here.

Energy-Storage.news Premium subscribers receive every copy of PV Tech Power as part of their subscription as soon as they are published, as well as exclusive content on Energy-Storage.news.

For more details on Energy-Storage.news Premium, including how to subscribe, click here.

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On top of carbon emissions, diesel generators in California’s South Coast and Bay Area communities alone emit an annual 20 tons of fine particulate matter, 62 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nearly a thousand tons of nitrogen oxide, the single most significant ozone-depleting emission.

Exposure to diesel exhaust has been linked to lung cancer and is classified as carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organization.  

As a result, industry and regulatory pressure has mounted for cleaner temporary electricity alternatives that address the shortcomings of diesel generators and protect the planet. Net-zero targets have been set by more than 140 countries and the private sector is following suit. More than 9,000 companies have pledged to halve global emissions by 2030.  

Fortunately, an innovative, cleaner solution is gaining traction to replace dirty generators: mobile battery energy storage systems (mobile BESS). 

Mobile BESS products provide mobile, temporary electricity wherever and whenever it’s needed. By storing low-cost off-peak grid power and dispatching it onsite as needed, mobile storage provides operators with emissions and noise-free electricity – often for days or weeks without having to recharge.

Mobile BESS products can also charge from local microgrids powered by renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines. Some providers also offer a “battery swap”, where they will replace an empty mobile BESS with a fully charged unit to take the charging burden away from the customer.

For certain applications, where swapping or recharging is difficult, hybrid operation with a generator is an option. This method can still deliver 50-80% fuel savings and emissions reductions, while providing a learning period for customers to get accustomed to the new technology. From remote construction sites to disaster response hubs, mobile BESS products are delivering reliable, affordable power everywhere generators can.

And the world is listening. In 2023, one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions was a mobile battery system.  

Compared to diesel generators, the benefits of mobile batteries are clear. Diesel generators emit carbon dioxide, harmful particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants. In contrast, mobile batteries produce no exhaust fumes, improving local air quality and worker health. Unlike loud diesel generators, mobile battery storage systems operate virtually silently. By eliminating disruptive noise, batteries facilitate clearer communication between workers on construction job sites or disaster relief efforts, better experiences at live events and more productive environments for film production. 

Replacing fossil-fuel-burning generators with zero-emission battery storage also reduces projects’ carbon footprints. This helps companies follow emissions regulations, achieve their decarbonisation goals, and align with global efforts to reach net zero emissions. Operators can also avoid costly diesel fuel markups since mobile batteries charge from cheap off-peak grid or microgrid power.  

Generators need to idle to be ready to dispatch electricity. This constant operation wastes energy, fuel and money. On the other hand, mobile batteries simply wait on standby and provide immediate power when it’s needed.  

As demand surges for cleaner temporary power, this definitive guide provides an overview of how battery systems are transforming access to sustainable off-grid energy. 

The basics of mobile battery storage 

Mobile battery systems typically use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. They plug into grid or microgrid connections for charging when available, then disconnect for dispatch onsite. This allows them to provide emission-free electricity anywhere, anytime, without relying on continuous generator operation and diesel delivery. Some batteries can be even charged using standard EV charging infrastructure.  

Mobile BESS come in all shapes and sizes. For example, Moxion Power houses battery hardware in rigorously engineered shells mounted on all-terrain trailers. The units can be towed by a standard truck over vast distances, then manoeuvred into place on-site. They withstand challenging on- and off-road conditions such as construction sites and rough dirt roads. Other mobile BESS are built into standard shipping containers for easy transport. Mobile storage systems range in capacity from 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) to over 1,000kWh. To put those figures into perspective, there is enough energy in the 530kWh Moxion MP-75/600 to power a Tesla Model 3 for over 2,200 miles. 

By providing silent, affordable, grid-charged power, mobile storage solutions are transforming industries that rely on diesel for off-grid energy. 

During recent construction at a Moxion facility, mobile BESS powered a concrete grinding crew’s battery-powered tools for one week on a single charge—far exceeding typical runtimes expected of batteries. Mobile batteries also helped power the 2023 PGA Tour Championship, providing reliable electricity for the hospitality tent and scoreboard for the tournament’s four days of competition. And when supporting an electric excavator pilot, portable batteries enabled the machine to operate eight hours daily with overnight charging. These examples show that mobile storage runtimes pack enough on-demand power for even the most enduring loads. 

Where mobile batteries are helping cut fuel costs, pollution and noise 

Mobile BESS are already deploying across a range of industries. One of the key features that distinguishes batteries from diesel generators is that some providers offer a fully programmable power supply which can be customised to the customers’ needs. For example, some mobile BESS can output any voltage, frequency, phase, AC, or DC out of a single unit. This versatility makes mobile BESS an attractive choice across any industry that needs temporary power.  

Construction

Since global building and construction account for nearly 40% of carbon emissions, construction firms are facing rising regulations and project emissions reporting requirements. External pressures such as the proposed European Green New Deal, the revised Construction Products Regulation, and new green building codes across the US are pressuring them to reduce their carbon footprint, along with their customers who have their own ambitious ESG goals. This growing focus on net-zero targets has led the industry to seek cleaner options, including a shift to electric equipment.  

While replacing gas-powered construction machinery with electric alternatives does help to reduce emissions, relying on diesel-fueled generators to charge these electric machines offsets some of the environmental gains. In contrast, mobile batteries operate emissions-free and almost silently, allowing convenient indoor operation (unlike generators) and easier on-site communication. Batteries also provide clean, silent temporary power for job site trailers, lighting and tools. They can even integrate with renewables like solar to create self-sufficient off-grid microgrids at remote sites. As portable batteries begin to replace diesel generators, construction companies can unlock the full sustainability benefits of electric equipment and decarbonise more effectively. 

Live events 

Music festivals require temporary, mobile power setups, making them a suitable use case for mobile battery storage. Image: Rawpixel.

Music festivals have a less glamorous side: they are often powered by diesel generators that create significant emissions. In 2022, music festivals in Switzerland alone emitted 128,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of powering over 16,000 households for a year. Larger festivals’ emissions are staggering.  

Mobile storage batteries provide an emissions-free alternative to support events’ dynamic energy needs. The virtually silent mobile BESS enhance guests’ experiences far more than noisy generators. They’ve already reliably handled fluctuating loads like stages, lighting, LED walls, and sound systems for days, and can be operated indoors.  

For example, at Austin City Limits, mobile batteries smoothly powered an art exhibit for two weekends and a hospitality tent for 12 hours daily. While two units were deployed for the art market, post-event analysis showed that just a single unit could have powered the entire area, saving almost 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel and avoiding 27,600 pounds of CO2 emissions. For the hospitality tent, almost 870 gallons of diesel and 1,900 pounds of CO2 emissions were avoided.  

Film sets  

Mobile storage offers a reliable, eco-friendly solution to replace noisy, disruptive diesel generators on film sets. Batteries can quietly power basecamps, lighting, catering, hair and makeup trailers and device charging. Their runtime can last for multi-day shoots, and they can easily adjust output to handle shifting energy needs. 

In fact, Amazon Studios recently adopted Moxion’s modular battery systems on the sets of Candy Cane Lane, a holiday special starring Eddie Murphy, Sitting in Bars with Cake, a rom-com featuring Yara Shahidi and Bette Midler, as well as the Freevee series Bosch: Legacy. The batteries reduced noise, enabled indoor operation without exhaust fumes, required no warm-up or cool-down time, and provided smoother, lower-maintenance operations compared to diesel generators.  

Crew member connects in a Moxion Power mobile BESS on an Amazon Studios film set. Image: Moxion.

The virtual silence of the battery systems is a game-changer for the film industry, where even minor background noise can disrupt shoots. By eliminating the constant rumble of diesel generators, mobile BESS are a perfect match for the silver screen. 

EV fleet charging 

As EV adoption accelerates, growing demand is outpacing available charging infrastructure. To fill in this gap, mobile storage batteries offer interim charging while permanent stations are built.  

Mobile batteries can charge at sites with grid access, then disconnect to provide off-grid power for EV fleets at remote locations. This flexible deployment model allows the batteries to be quickly set up for temporary charging when needed, and later relocated as charging demands shift. By avoiding the high fixed costs of extensive permanent charging infrastructure, mobile battery storage enables cost-effective interim EV charging solutions. 

Adding mobile battery capacity also allows buffering grid demand from high-power DC fast charging. By shaving peak loads, mobile storage increases charging access without costly grid upgrades. 

Finally, mobile BESS provides resiliency. If the power goes out entirely, fleet operators are still able to operate their fleet moving.  

Utilities 

Much like EV chargers, mobile batteries can also serve as bridge infrastructure for utilities. There’s often a multi-year lag between a customer requesting an upgraded utility connection, and the project’s completion. In the interim, mobile battery storage can be deployed on the same day to boost the customer’s connection.  

This flexible capacity allows utilities to earn revenue sooner from upgraded connections, rather than waiting years to recoup costs. By rapidly deploying mobile storage as needed, utilities can meet demand growth quickly while major grid upgrades progress. 

Disaster response 

While diesel generators are the standard for providing temporary power in disaster areas, they require continuously transported fuel that can be difficult to obtain. Islands, mountainous regions, and other remote areas often struggle to transport diesel when they undergo hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters.  

Mobile batteries offer a more resilient solution that avoids fuel logistics issues. The batteries can charge in two ways, depending on what works best in a specific situation. They can charge where grid power is available, then transport to disaster sites, or connect to locally generated power like wind or solar to form an independent microgrid.  

Rather than trying to continually ship diesel to inaccessible areas, mobile batteries paired with renewables can provide self-sufficient emergency power without ongoing fuel needs. With mobile storage pre-positioned nearby, communities can restore power faster after disasters – without depending on difficult or delayed diesel delivery. 

The economics of mobile BESS 

Until recently, diesel generators were the only option for off-grid temporary power. Customers are now used to paying high fuel costs without thinking twice. Even now, many diesel generator users don’t realise their true fuel costs due to convoluted supply chains. For instance, construction sites hire contractors, who rent generators and pass through marked-up diesel bills. Each middleman can take up to a 25% cut, often resulting in US$7-10 per gallon diesel.  

As a result, just the diesel to run generators can cost an astronomical 50 to 75 cents per kWh in optimal scenarios – and even more factoring in inevitable idling, underuse, spills and leaks for generators that need to operate on short notice. Regulations and practices often mandate running generators even when little power is used.  

For instance, OSHA requires dedicated generators for elevators and man lifts. Since these must be ready for immediate use at any time, they’re forced to idle constantly. Similarly, generators must run overnight in job trailers just to maintain minor loads – even as little as a sandwich in the fridge. In contrast, mobile storage only discharges energy on demand, and can do so instantly; they don’t need to idle at all. This can dramatically lower energy costs, especially combined with their ability to charge off-peak at 10-15 cents per kWh. 

Beyond fuel savings, mobile storage batteries require much lower maintenance than diesel generators. So, in total lifecycle costs, mobile batteries multiply savings through greater reliability, efficiency and performance. 

Mobile battery storage’s addressable market 

Mobile battery storage solutions are starting to gain traction and have immense potential to replace diesel generators for off-grid power needs. Recent projections estimated the global temporary power market at $12 billion in 2021, growing to over US$20 billion by 2028—a compound annual growth rate of nearly 8%. Even when narrowed to just the addressable market in the US, the opportunity is substantial.  

Currently, there are over 500,000 diesel generators already deployed in the US. Each unit represents a chance to reduce emissions through mobile battery storage. On a global scale, the total addressable market is even larger as mobile storage solutions enter new regions worldwide. As this technology advances, mobile battery storage is poised for significant near-term growth in the race to provide clean, quiet power anywhere. 

What the future holds for mobile battery technology 

Current mobile BESS technology is ready today for cost-effective, at-scale adoption. Those who adopt it can drive sustainability gains now, without waiting years for possible technology advances.  

Currently, most mobile storage relies on lithium-ion batteries, which see incremental density improvements of a few percentage points annually. No dramatic leap is on the immediate horizon; the closest option with the potential for a major jump in density is solid-state battery technology, which remains around a decade away from viable commercialisation. For now, today’s models are already highly optimised for commercial use and, in the long term, cost-competitive with diesel generators. 

Looking ahead, mobile storage systems will increasingly integrate with diverse power generation sources including solar, wind, hydropower and other batteries. The industry’s goal is to eventually achieve fully integrated systems capable of linking to any asset, storing its energy, and dispatching it on demand. 

Another innovation currently on the horizon, intelligent software platforms, will enable sophisticated remote control, upgrades and optimisation. Similar to Tesla’s over-the-air EV updates, mobile storage can also benefit from centralised software that improves performance and flexibility. 

The electric shift transforming the vehicle industry has now reached the mobile power industry. Today’s mobile storage options make complete electrification achievable and cost-competitive. Just like electric vehicles, mobile storage is driving the transition beyond diesel dependence and toward emissions-free, grid-connected sustainability. 

About the author  

Alex Smith is the co-founder and CTO of Moxion Power, where he leads product development. Prior to Moxion, Alex led advanced battery development at NIO and launched several automotive programmes at LG Chem, including the Ram 1500 eTorque battery. Smith holds a master’s in mechanical engineering from Kettering University. He started his career in 2005 working on heavy-duty hybrid vehicles at ISE Corporation. 

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