Factor This!
Factor This! is a weekly podcast for the solar industry that provides in-depth and actionable content not available anywhere else. The podcast features solar energy leaders who actually move the needle, in hopes of making you smarter, your solar job easier, and moving the industry forward. Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy, and is hosted by John Engel. Have an idea for an episode or want to sponsor the show? Email john.engel@clarionevents.com for more information. Find show notes, transcripts, and resources at RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Subscribe today to renewable energy's newest podcast.
Factor This!
Battery storage is booming. Now what do we do with it?
Tell us what you think of the show!
In the spring of 2016, Jeff Bishop was developing wind projects when he came across an analyst chart that caught his eye.
Battery storage, the analysts forecasted, would follow a similar cost curve as solar. Costs would plummet as deployment ramped up to support a grid ever more dependent on intermittent renewable energy resources.
Bishop quit his job by the summer and launched Key Capture Energy, a developer, owner, and operator of grid-scale battery storage projects.
Turns out, the analysts were right. Seven years later, battery storage deployment is booming.
But the industry is still finding its way. Developers and regulators face questions about how to best use batteries, and what policy structures are needed to facilitate deployment. Moreover, the industry is learning on the fly about how these assets will perform under various state and utility demands.
Bishop joined Episode 50 of the Factor This! podcast to break down how states should, and shouldn't, go about procuring battery storage, and why software is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Plus, stick around for the inside story of how Key Capture went from the brink of insolvency to raising $100 million.
