UK-based battery storage startup Connected Energy makes use of electric vehicle batteries that are at the end of their in-car first life to create energy storage systems. The company combines as many batteries as needed for customised solutions with capacities from less than 100 kilowatt hours to up to 15 megawatt hours or higher.
Investment from ENGIE New Ventures
Now, ENGIE New Ventures, the corporate venture fund of ENGIE announced that it has pumped in funds into Connected Energy. The £1.2M funding round welcomes Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 along with existing investors ENGIE New Ventures, Sumitomo and Macquarie among others. Also, there is a R&D grant from Innovate UK as part of the ENGIE and UKRI Clean Growth Innovation Fund.
“We almost double the working life of the batteries for vehicles and thereby greatly increase the value created from the resources already embedded in them. Our objective is to provide our end-customers with bankable energy storage systems and our battery supply partners with reliable routes to market for their second-life batteries,” said Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy. “With this additional investment we aim to capitalize on our system data to further optimize our technology and continue to scale up our development plans.”
“Connected Energy offers ingenious solutions to answer this need while offering a second life to electric vehicle batteries. Its approach provides a strategic fit with ENGIE’s ambition to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world. Our investment in Connected Energy is a key example of developments in our distributed energy management business like Zero Emissions Services (ZES) in The Netherlands and other projects in Belgium,” stated Johann Boukhors, Managing Director at ENGIE New Ventures.
“Investing in British innovators with solutions for the transition to a clean economy and achieving net zero by 2050 is of paramount importance as we aim to build back better from recent challenging times. It is great to see this first investment through the clean growth investor partnership come to fruition, and we are looking forward to this being the first of many investments that brings together SME innovations, private finance into those businesses, and government funding to enable de-risking of the technology with sustainable outcomes,” stated Christian Inglis, Head of Urban Systems at Innovate UK.
Stationary energy storage technology
Founded by Matthew Lumsden in 2010, Connected Energy’s stationary energy storage technology – E-STOR extends the life of electric vehicle batteries by 5 to 10 years. It is deployed whenever there is a need for modular, flexible and short or long-term electricity storage systems.
With E-STOR commercial scale energy storage systems, it is possible for end users to generate new revenues, save energy costs and make better use of renewable energy generation. The aggregated battery systems are capable of helping stabilise the existing electricity grid or be used to build autonomous mini-grids. In construction sites that require high levels of power for short periods, these compare to generator systems that have limited use by emissions restrictions and noise regulations.
Currently, Connected Energy has systems operating in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Also, it is looking for opportunities in other European countries Japan, US and other global markets.
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