Finding funding often seems to be the hardest hurdle for a new venture. Figuring out who to talk to is the most critical step.

We keep track of all the past sources of funds for the grid energy storage industry since 2009. The most likely investor for an energy storage venture is the investor who is already familiar with the industry, and has a track record as an energy storage investor.

The last update to our Grid Energy Storage Funding Directory covers all 2009-2015 events that we are aware of (along with a few 2016 events):

• for all companies that are a part of our grid energy storage directory;
• and for some energy storage investors that have invested in the past in non-grid energy storage ventures, but that we feel may consider investing into a grid energy storage company.

Q4 2015 Update: EnergyMag.net’s Grid Energy Storage Funding Directory

The Q4 2015 update for the grid energy storage company directory is up!

Both directories were updated.

Finally, an interesting new entrant this year: Energy Storage Systems (I know, the name is not so exciting), which had been present in technical demonstrations fort the past 18 months, finally locked on early VC funding, with the interesting concept of an all-iron flow battery, possibly with significantly lower costs.

Most funding deals are still going to integrators or to “classical” (i.e. not introducing new solutions) battery suppliers. The number of deals is limited, and none of them is flaunting a new great technical solution. Too bad, really – energy storage needs new solutions.

Both directories were updated.

There were no significant entrants in the world of energy storage technology providers. The bulk of the funding events disclosed so far appear to have gone to integrators or battery manufacturers.

Among funders, a large percentage of participants in funding events this year have previously made investments in energy storage.  This is significant: late last year, there was a good amount of pessimism among traditional funders. On the other hand, the world of energy storage has not seen breakthroughs of any kind lately, either in technology or in cost, and there is no interesting new technology approach being discussed.

I was hoping to start seeing some validation for the new technology provider entrants of the past few years – there were many exciting ones in 2012 and 2013. But so far there is only silence among them. No news is not good news in the startup world:-)

Both directories were updated.

There were no significant additions to either lists. The amount of energy storage funding this quarter appears low, mostly focused on integrators. There are no significant new entrants in the world of technology providers for energy storage.

We just published our first update to the Energy Storage Directory for 2015. Check it out!

Comparing this first 2015 version of the directory to last year’s at about the same time in the year, I could not help being surprised by the small number of changes. The sector is booming, yet we are seeing very few new players over the past 12 months, either as start-ups or as existing players entering the industry.

I see this as a somewhat negative flag for our industry. It goes against the current, doesn’t it? Possibly an early warning sign.

EnergyMag.net’s Energy Storage Company Directory

We are working on several industry reports and have virtual summer internships available.

Are you interested in making a difference to the world in the domain of energy storage? Would you like to build a solid resume and a strong project portfolio? Come and work with us for the whole summer, or for four weeks, and put your name on a published report!

We have open positions for both college and high school students.

Don’t wait till the last minute: plan ahead and apply now for a summer internship at EnergyMag.net

We just updated EnergyMag.net’s Energy Storage Funding Directory.

Please check it out and let us know if we missed a significant funding move!

EnergyMag.net’s Energy Storage Funding Directory

For a small industry (so far), the energy storage industry is remarkably in-homogenious.

The reason, of course, is that there is no established direction of thrust for the industry that has the *best* answers. We are still in this early phase where many players are competing with fundamentally different technologies.

The consequence, though, is that we are all speaking different languages, largely issued from our technical backgrounds of origin. it is hard to understand all the different components of our industry, and to compare them on an equal footing.

So EnergyMag.net is trying to assemble a basic set of Energy Storage FAQs that can easily ramp up a novice in our industry. It is only a start – but we need your help to find out where we need to take it. Please let us know how we should complete it!

EnergyMag.net’s Energy Storage FAQs

Isn’t it hard to find a good source for the energy information that is required to make sense of the energy storage industry?

EnergyMag.net is working at putting it together for you. We just published a new set of Energy FAQs for the energy storage industry.

Check it out and let us know how we should make it better and more complete!

EnergyMag.net’s Energy FAQs for energy storage