For a market to develop rapidly, total product solutions are essential. Especially when you want to revamp a crucial system such as our personal transportation network, you will need to give even the innovators in the market something that does more or less the same as the old system, and more.

With Massachusetts’ battery developer A123 Systems (known for its work on lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles) to step into the energy storage systems for electric utilities, it is clear that several parties are getting into position for the storm that a market breakthrough can bring.

This week, the startup announced the installation of its first Hybrid Ancillary Power Unit at a power plant owned by AES in Southern California. 

And they are not alone…

 Altair Nanotechnologies, another lithium-ion battery developer, is also making moves in the utility energy storage field. And Altair is also working with AES, which made a $3 million investment in Altair in 2007.

These systems are designed to offset sudden power shortages caused by generator or transmission outages and to help regulate frequency fluctuations in the grid that are caused by changes in supply and demand throughout the day.

The grid in the US is aging anyway, so many players are developing solutions for this including flywheel technology from Beacon Power, and high temperature superconductor wires from American Superconductor.

Even Google is getting into the grid game. The search giant recently joined the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition,  and joined with GE on an energy policy and technology partnership that the companies said would include pushing for a smarter electricity grid.

Business model boost

In fact, a smart grid can give a tremendous boost to the businessmodels of other cleantech ventures in the fields of wind, solar and electric transportantion since it can absorb energy when the frequency or voltage is too high and inject that energy back onto the grid when the frequency or voltage is too low, also it can provide as backup power by storing energy until it’s needed by the grid in the event of a power plant failure.

All of these technologies on their own are nice to say the least, but to get them in a total solution will really pay-off.





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