We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
The "generational opportunities" created by the recently passed US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could double the addressable market for utility energy storage in the United States from 70 gigawatts to 140 gigawatts and create a $200 billion industry by 2030.
That's the projection from Kiran Kumaraswamy, a high-caliber energy storage executive focused on the commercialization of technology — specifically, righting the ship around techno-economic analysis and justification of deployment of commercialization.
"If you're excited about energy storage — if you're listening to this podcast — why does the growth of the energy storage market matter? It matters because you're part of a $200 billion industry in the US.
"So let's feel proud about it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. But it's actually an incredible moment to feel proud," he said.
Kiran is Vice President of Growth and Head of Commercial at Fluence, a global energy storage technology and services company created and backed by Siemens and AES.
Fluence was named the top global provider of battery-based energy storage systems in the 2021 Battery Energy Storage System Integrator Report published by IHS Markit, based on the market share of installed and planned projects.
"We're blessed to be in the position of a market leader, but competition is always on our tail. We've had the good fortune of shaping the marketplace," he said.
"To some degree, we are market-making, and the aspect of Fluence leading the charge and leading from the front is of significant value. It keeps me highly motivated. And it's very close to our mission, which is to enable the pathway to clean energy and make energy storage a central part of the clean energy transition."
Kiran is an engineer who can translate technology to make it easy for customers to understand and teams to model and deploy.
After earning his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Madras in India and a master's in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he took a course in energy economics.
"That's how I learned about the beautiful nature of power markets, asset trading, and a bunch of related things," he said.
In today's Tactical Tuesday, Kiran shares insights on how the IRA will catalyze domestic production of batteries and other renewable energy options. He explains how Fluence is stabilizing its supply chain through domestic manufacturing and discusses the effect of innovative technology on the future of battery storage.
"Adoption of renewable energy is the most common sense approach right now. It's a chance to increase reliability and resiliency by lowering costs for consumers, given the uncertainty we see in the oil and gas market overall," he said.
I hope you join us to learn more about Kiran's insights and how Fluence is poised to add reliability and resiliency to the power grid.
Today’s conversation was part of the RE+ PowerUp Media Zone, a live production of SunCast Media.
NOTEWORTHY QUOTE:
“Uber actually broke the utilization model because they use technology and figured out a way in which you can utilize these assets much more. Airbnb broke that for the hotel network, right? And so what does technology and innovation do? It helps you break the cycle of utilization on really high capital cost items.”
Thanks again to this week's sponsor, helping keep the podcast FREE to you!
SUNGROW focuses on integrated energy storage system solutions, including PCS, lithium-ion batteries and energy management system. Pleae visit https://www.mysuncast.com/sungrow
ABOUT THE HOST OF SUNCAST:
Nico Johnson is the creator and host of SunCast, consistently rated a top solar podcast in the clean energy sector. The content of the show is geared towards listeners looking for insights on where the markets are headed, how to position themselves or their companies, and what today's market leaders do to stay ahead of the pack.
Nico is an Investor, Executive Coach, and 16-year veteran of the solar industry, having led development in the US and Latin America for global companies like Trina Solar and Conergy.
You can connect with Nico Johnson on Twitter, LinkedIn or email.
If you’ve been second-guessing your work decisions or maybe trying to reconsider how you "fit" in the renewable energy industry -> grab 20 minutes on Nico's calendar and discuss whether having him as Your personal coach might be the right next step.