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Batteries have been around for a long time, much longer than network electricity. They and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. What they all have in common is the ability to store energy and these days, storing energy and not wasting it, is more important than ever.

The figure most associated with the invention of the battery was Alessandro Volta, the Italian scientist and electrical pioneer. He was a man known for enjoying the simple pleasures of home life like listening to music, reading a book or enjoying a meal.

In this respect, little has changed: we all enjoy the simple pleasures of home, like cooking, watching a good film or spending time with the family. And just like in Alessandro’s day, this requires energy.

The difference is, If he were alive today, Alessandro Volta would probably be a little amazed at how much power we waste, often letting it literally fly out the window.

He might also amaze at advances in battery technology and shock at how we fail to exploit it. After all, much of our wasted energy could be stored, ready to be reused. People can get stuck with bad habits, like using disposable batteries, throwing them away after only one use.

Today we have the technology to make batteries not only reusable, but with up to 98% charge efficiency. They are long-lasting (sometimes decades) and are recyclable.

Therefore, there is no need for the waste and the contamination.

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In contrast to other types of batteries, at the end of their life, advanced lithium-ion batteries for domestic power storage can be safely recycled. They can be collected, dismantled and the valuable components such as Nickel, reused. And none of the contents are poisonous. Our product is colbalt free.

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Batteries can now be so efficient, so effective and so reliable, that they have the potential to revolutionize how we power our homes and how we live in them.

With advanced lithium-ion batteries, we can harness renewable energy, store it at will and free ourselves from over-priced electricity. Batteries have the potential to liberate consumers from the unsustainable power that the big companies supply.

With batteries, we can maximise the potential of renewable energy, like solar. We can store the energy, buy it when it is cheapest, use it to power a car, even share it with neighbours. Batteries enable you to control power distribution, by-passing the big energy providers and cutting out waste and inefficiency.

So now, the art of relaxing at home, just like Volta did over 200 years ago, can not only be a pleasure, but also sustainable, intelligent, cost-effective and reliable. The power generated by solar, biomass, wind, or other renewable energies, can be safely stored and efficiently reused.

Lithium-ion battery technology is at the heart of this transformation. It is not the only battery technology, but it is arguably the best. Lithium batteries can be completely non-toxic. They last far longer, are easier to maintain and can be made to be far lighter. LiFePO4 is more durable and safer, and it’s colbalt free!

Your typical lead-acid battery like the one in your car can leak. They also waste energy during charging and use. Lithium batteries by contrast, retain up to 98% of their usable energy. They charge faster, last longer, and in many cases, will NEVER need to be changed

[box] A lead-acid battery typically loses up to 30% of its convertible energy as heat during charging. Lithium batteries, by contrast, can lose at little as 2%[/box]

At the heart of a lithium-ion battery is the cathode (such as lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO₄) and the anode (such as graphite). The difference with other batteries is that these materials, in contrast to things like lead, are non-toxic. The electrolyte, which enables electric conduction, is also non-toxic. These are crucial considerations when it comes to worker safety, environmental pollution and the long-term recycling potential of a battery.

Lithium-ion batteries are therefore not only safer for workers, but safer in the home: they don’t ‘off-gas’, require ventilation, or risk polluting the environment like many other batteries and have zero fire risk.

Not only are they now very safe, but lithium-ion batteries offer flexibility and scalability, so have multiple applications. They are used in vehicles, fork-lifts and hospital equipment. They are even used as AA-sized rechargeables. Domestic storage versions, such as the sonnenBatterie can be designed to be extra solid and robust, enabling the consumer complete peace of mind.

Such is their efficiency and success, that lithium-ion batteries are even used for large-scale energy storage. The power stored is not only rapidly charged but instantly available, responding to demands and peaks in fractions of a second.

There is no doubt, lithium-ion batteries have impressive performance. Arguably however, their best application is not large-scale but small-scale. It is in the home. After all, this is where the technology’s efficiency can be maximized; the power doesn’t need to travel. It gets used instantly. And you can generate the power; you and not the big energy company.

Not long after purchase, batteries also save you money. After just a few years, the initial cost of buying your battery system will begin to pay for itself. A renewable energy system combined with battery storage can even allow you excess power that could be sold or transferred to the grid or one of your neighbours.

The future after all is about devolving power: smarter ways of localizing energy production and storage. Maximising efficiency and reducing waste is needed right now. Sonnen, a German company founded in 2007, is demonstrating how this can be done through domestic battery storage.

As they show, batteries can be ‘aggregated’, or, in other words, combined and managed as if they were a single power plant. Neighbourhoods can be turned into highly-efficient distribution networks, keeping both production and consumption of electricity local and in locals’ hands.

The beauty of it is in the efficiency as there is very little waste. So-called “Virtual power plants” formed by smart battery linkage, avoid the inefficiency of standard ways of distributing power, which wastes energy through heat loss, transmission loss and the sheer distances the power has to travel.

Community power can tap into whichever type of renewable resource is on hand and most suitable.  The joy of it is that whether it’s one house or 10,000, the efficiency can be maintained, even increased, and the more people that invest in batteries, the greater the energy savings are made.

There is no doubt, batteries have great liberating potential. What they can do quite literally is take the power away from big utilities and hand it back to the consumer. They can free households from spiralling energy bills and put you in charge of your finances.

Given the right conditions, in the long-term, battery storage and renewables can make electricity completely free. Not only that, but the power does not come from fossil fuels. So it doesn’t cost the earth.

With power in your hands, electricity can be used, monitored and stored as you see fit. Smart metering and smart operation allow you to automatically charge or store power when best suits you. And you are completely in charge.

We joined Eddie McGoldrick, co-founder of PowerOn Technologies, to ask him questions about this early stage growth company. He hopes that through innovative domestic battery storage solution, they can put the power back in energy consumer’s hands and create a revolution of prosumers. 

Q1) Could you share with us, a little about your background and what inspired you to get involved in the energy sector?

I am one of the co-founders of PowerOn Technologies, which trades as The Electric Storage Company. My background is in electricity where I have worked since the late 1970s, and my partner Anne Marie’s background is financial services. I was inspired to get involved in this area of the energy sector from years of experience of customers not getting a good service – both people on low and fixed incomes who need affordable electricity the most and those living in rural areas that do not always get the reliable power supply they need today. We recognised the scope in combining financial services and big data thinking with energy, in such a way that we can address both these challenges.

Q2) Could you give us an insight into what a day to day role within an early stage growth company looks like?

Being part of an early stage growth company requires a lot of quick thinking and the willingness to do absolutely everything. From collecting battery devices, visiting customers, making sure batteries are installed correctly, ensuring the customer is happy, negotiating with the bank and raising funding fromInvest NI, I have been involved in it all. Luckily, Anne Marie and I, and our team, have the skills and enthusiasm for it. The key thing about a role in a start-up is having belief and stickability. There are many days where we question why we bothered because we could easily go and do something much easier. Yet, when customers call to tell us they are delighted with their product, the service they received and the savings they have since made, it is a magnificent feeling, and these are the days when being a part of this is like nothing else.

Q3) The Electric Storage Co. has launched the very first and only field trial in NI, supplying and installing battery storage in homes. What has been the most challenging aspect(s) of getting this trial up and running?

The most challenging aspect is that we sit within a complex regulatory area. Two years ago, Anne Marie took the lead on setting up a stakeholder group. These stakeholders include representatives that influence the energy market and have an interest in good outcomes for consumers) and Ulster University. Whilst the stakeholders have no ownership of or responsibility for the company, they have been working with us for the last two years to better understand what the potential for domestic storage may be, what the barriers are and what might be possible in terms of reducing or eliminating those barriers. The great benefit to having this group is that they are both interested and knowledgeable about energy. They are willing to discuss and work through any problems we have and so their expertise is a wonderful asset to have.

Q4) There are various energy storage battery brand options currently available on the market. Why is the Sonnen device the system of choice for your home installations?

We began with two test houses at Ulster University in Jordanstown. Occupied by real, faculty families, we tried six different batteries and the one that was by far the best was the Sonnen. It was the most efficient, the safest and gave us the most data flexibility. In terms of data flexibility; once the Sonnen is installed, we gather data from it every 10 seconds and pull that data on to a financial trading platform. This allows us to understand what the customer is using, what the Photovoltaic (PV) is generating, what the network is doing in terms of power quality and therefore what positioning we might want to take in the Single Electricity Market (SEM) market. We would suggest that since October, the SEM market has been paying a premium for predictability and flexibility, and if you can be predictable and flexible in the market, there is more money to be made. At the minute, the only people receiving any value are the big power station and wind farm operators. Our argument is that with our customers’ data coming together, we too should be able to acquire better value for our customers in that market. It is also interesting to see that a few weeks ago, Shell or Royal Dutch Shell to give them their full title bought over Sonnen, so if Sonnen is good enough for Shell, it is good enough for us.

Q5) One of your aims is to put power back in consumers’ hands. Could you give us an example of a success story of installing battery storage in an NI home?

When our very first customer bought a smart battery from us, he already had a 2.5kW of PV on his roof and a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius. With our battery, we advised him to begin at the entry point with one 2kWh hour battery pack. He very quickly came back to us and asked for a second 2kWh hour pack. He has now bought a third and is planning on purchasing a fourth. This customer has informed us that he has since been able to reduce his electricity bill by 67% and his retail electricity provider recently phoned him to say his bills were so low that they were removing him from his direct debit budget plan, and he was delighted. This is what is great about our product because people can come in at an entry point and add capacity as they wish. We have other customers who are aiming to get their electricity bill to zero and are very close to it. These customers are getting what we call a good ‘invest to save’ proposition. Whether they have invested in solar panels, plug in hybrids or in air source heat pumps, they are willing to pay for our product as they see storage as a way of accelerating and maximising that return.

One of the issues surrounding batteries is their quality and lifespan. There is a very well known, ambitious company who do lots of interesting things but only warrant a battery if it is cycled once a day. If a customer cycles it more than once, their warranty lapses. However, our customers are cycling their batteries two/three times a day, which is what you want to do to get the maximum out of your renewable energy sources, by cycling it through the battery. This is the beauty of the Sonnen, and the data analysis we do for customers as it helps them to see how to cycle the battery several times each day.

Q6) Is there a goal that The Electric Storage Co. has met that you are most proud of? 

 To date, what we are most proud of is what we experienced at the recent Self Build Show 2019. We had dozens of customers queuing up, wanting to buy our product because it allowed them the choices and freedom they wanted. It was also interesting to see that 1 in 3 of them were from the Republic of Ireland, where there are now incentives via Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). We currently have no such incentives in Northern Ireland, but we have signed up over 100 people to get a detailed quotation from us at the show, wanting to join the revolution and become prosumers. Overall, it made me extremely proud to see a great product beside a great team of people, with customers literally queuing up for our stand.

Q7) How do you see battery storage in Northern Ireland homes progressing?

I believe that this will become standard, particularly for rural homes but also for new build. In Australia and California, where new developments of homes require and benefit from renewable sources, storage and smart purchasing from other renewables; people no longer worry about how much electricity they use or how to pay the next bill. Instead, they pay a flat fee and receive all the energy they need to keep their homes warm, safe and comfortable. This future is now only a few years off for Northern Ireland.

Q8) Where do you think the future challenges lie for The Electric Storage Co. and are there any outside factors/influences that might make it difficult/easier for your company to grow?

The future challenge for PowerOn involves scaling our business up. At present, we are a small company and have financed it all ourselves. We are talking to investors about scaling the company up to exploit both the Irish market and potentially the GB market, so that is a big challenge. We don’t want to be gobbled up by some company who just want to sell devices quickly and cheaply. What we want to do is drive the revolution in this corner of the renewables market. However, there are outside factors and influences that make it difficult for us. When you look at the Irish market, you have one semi state organisation who own power stations, windfarms, and the grid- they are also selling retail energy to customers. They control the four corners of the game and it is very difficult for a disruptor like us to compete against. Yet, on the other hand, we do have experience and faith in the regulatory system in Northern Ireland and Ireland and so feel that they will see the potential here and ensure that the small new ideas get on to the pitch as well.

Click here to see the interview.

A lot has changed in your average house since 1955. Tablets and games consoles have overtaken transistors and televisions, but one thing has remained the same – your electricity bill.

Today’s energy market is fundamentally the same as in 1955. Massive companies dominate the market, and take customers for granted. Customer choice and value for money is an optional extra.

The Electric Storage Company is working to change that. We take power away from the big energy companies and put it in customer’s hands. Our batteries allow customers to store electricity cheaply and safely in their home, saving money and reducing their carbon footprint at the same time.

Our customers can buy and store electricity from the grid when demand is at it’s lowest. This reduces the demand on the electricity grid and means our customers can buy electricity when it is cheapest.

The most vulnerable in our society are paying the price for the inefficient electricity market. Not only does an Electric Storage Company battery reduce the cost of electricity for the individual, it can also help reduce demand on the grid and lower market prices.

The energy market can only resist change for so long. In an era of increasing consumer choice and rapid technological change, the big energy companies will soon realise they are on the wrong side of history.

I hope that regulators, politicians and utility companies will join the revolution and empower companies like ours seeking to fix the broken energy market.

It’s only through innovative technology and fresh thinking that we can take the drastic action needed to future proof our electricity supply. The Electric Storage company isn’t just good for our customers, it’s approach is essential for grid survival, ending fuel poverty and ultimately tackling climate change.