I first met Pete Armstrong as he was pitching at the Ecosummit event in Berlin in 2018 and last year. The scale of the impact possible in transforming our heating and water storage systems in our homes blew my mind. I’ve always been so involved in the ‘electrification of everything’, so I’ve watched since with interest. Mixergy were also mentioned in a recent podcast episode with Robert Trezona of IP Group, one of their early (and follow on) investors. So I thought I’d invite Dr Pete Armstrong to join us.
About our guest
Dr Pete Armstrong is CEO and co-founder of Mixergy, an Oxford University spin-out company which has brought to market a unique hot water tank. Pete completed his PhD on intelligent hot water tanks at Oxford Uni with fellow student and co-founder Ren Kang, before going on to win a Technical Innovation award within the 2013 Shell Eco-Marathon electric car competition, and a prize in a Climate KiC venture competition, which was the genesis of Mixergy in 2014. Mixergy has since received investment from IP Group, Oxford Science Innovation, Centrica Innovations and Foresight Williams to grow and develop the business.
About Mixergy
Mixergy has developed an intelligent hot water tank, which is unlike others on the market. The Mixergy tank operates on an integrated Internet of Things platform and is designed to selectively heat smaller portions of water. As a fleet, Mixergy aims to offer a Demand Side Response (DSR) service to the National Grid, absorbing excess power load and time shifting demand to help balance the grid. This “Internet of Tanks” vision will help to facilitate the generation and utilisation of more renewables nationwide to support a greener future. The Mixergy tank is also a benefit to consumers, saving up to 40% on hot water bills through sophisticated machine learning.
GUEST LINKS
Mixergy Website- www.mixergy.co.uk
Mixergy on Linked In: www.linkedin.com/company/mixergy-ltd/
Mixergy on Twitter: twitter.com/MixergyLtd
EPISODE LINKS
Cleantech Mixergy Raises £3.6M – www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/cleantec…gy-raises-36m
Mixergy on Fully Charged – www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Z4JCoPAGc
Mixergy at Ecosummit 2019 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AL_wDpTVEc
Chaos: Making a New Science – James Gleick – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos:_Making_a_New_Science
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What’s it all about?
At Hyperion we love all things energy storage, and we’re always following new companies and technologies that can and will enable the energy transition. I recently met the team from Gravitricity at a trade show I was speaking at, and liked the look of their solution, anything that uses old and established technologies for new and innovative solutions is good as far as we’re concerned, so we asked their MD Charlie Blair to share more.
About our guest
Charlie joined Gravitricity as a founder shareholder in 2015, having worked with co-founders Peter Fraenkel and Martin Wright while in the Innovation Team at the Carbon Trust. The team has grown since then and he’s been instrumental in developing the strategic relationships with manufacturing partners that will allow the technology to get to market fast. Gravitricity is currently building at 250Kw, 50 tonne, Concept Demonstrator in Leith, Edinburgh. Charlie has a Geography degree from Durham University and an Energy Systems MSc from Imperial College. He was elected a Fellow of the Energy Institute in 2019.
Gravitricity is an energy technology company based in Edinburgh developing groundbreaking underground storage. Grid-scale electricity storage spend is projected to grow from around $3 billion per year today to over $50 billion per year by 2040.
Gravitricity’s patented technology is based on a simple principle: raising and lowering a heavy weight to store and release energy. The Gravitricity system suspends weights of 500 – 5000 tonnes in a deep shaft by a number of cables, each of which is engaged with a winch capable of lifting its share of the weight. Electrical power is then absorbed or generated by raising or lowering the weight. Gravitricity technology has fast response (<1s), extremely long life, high efficiency and levelised cost of storage almost half that of chemical batteries. The technology will initially be deployed at existing mine-shafts; later on in purpose-sunk shafts exactly where the grid needs storage.
GUEST LINKS HERE
Website – www.gravitricity.com
Twitter – https://twitter.com/gravitricity
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/gravitricity
EPISODE LINKS HERE
How UK’s disused mine shafts plan to store renewable energy https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/21/how-uks-disused-mine-shafts-plan-to-store-renewable-energy
Edinburgh company generates electricity from gravity https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-50146801
Gravitricity are Crowdfunding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WE2vgFZY5A
Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe
I’m very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.
If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.
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What’s it all about?
Solar power is my first love, and whilst in recent years it has been battery storage, EV Charging infrastructure and eMobility that has dominated my work at Hyperion, we’ve kept our love for and focus on the solar industry. I was introduced to Haggai by Ulrich Seitz at Bay Wa Ventures, and I love what they are doing. As ever it’s another great start-up story for an entrepreneur with a passion to make a difference to the world.
About our guest
Solar energy has been part of Haggai Hofland’s life for as long as he can remember. The CEO and founder of Raycatch was born and raised on a kibbutz in the Arava Desert in southern Israel, where his father built one of Israel’s largest solar energy companies. Solar energy has been the most installed energy source in the past few years. At Raycatch we believe that cutting-edge software will make it even more cost-effective and will enable a higher global adoption rate. The next leap in solar adoption will be led by the data revolution!
The Raycatch team includes solar industry experts and serial software entrepreneurs and the company is successfully enhancing over 2.5GW in solar assets worldwide. Raycatch’s leading solution, DeepSolar, is a pure SaaS AI solution that provides actionable insights for solar asset owners and operators to significantly enhance yield and improve asset ROI.
Haggai holds a B.A. in economics and management with a specialization in entrepreneurship, and has been working in tech companies in the renewable energy sector since 2010.
He is passionate about creating tech solutions for real-world problems with a global impact. Prior to Raycatch, Haggai co-founded Webper, a start-up that personalizes feeds in content websites and served as VP Business Development at Brighttech, a leading Israeli software developer. Haggai also advises public companies in PV production and data analysis of renewable energy assets.
GUEST LINKS
Raycatch on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/raycatch
Haggai Hofland onLinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/haggaihofland/
Raycatch Website: www.raycatch.com/
Raycatch YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCc9FbY2rAPBtiBxDks1qq2w
Raycatch Direct video link: youtu.be/eA8-raT7tpI
EPISODE LINKS
Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe. I’m very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.
If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.
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What’s it all about?
I first heard Billy Wu speak at a renewable energy event in London about four years, and my inner battery nerd was born and thrust into the world. Dr Billy has the knack of being a fully fledged Dr of batteries, whilst being able to articulate to non scientific nerds like me, and possibly you, if you are reading this. We talk batteries, supercapacitors, and of course Hydrogen Fuel Cells, where we are, what’s next, and who will win!
About our guest
Dr. Billy Wu is a senior lecturer in the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London where he co-leads the Electrochemical Science and Engineering group. His research activities include: energy storage/conversion technologies (lithium-ion batteries, redox flow cells, supercapacitors and fuel cells) and manufacturing (3D printing, nanofibre electrospinning).
He has published 35 peer reviewed journal papers, 2 book chapters and 4 patents since completing his PhD in 2014 and sits on the editorial board of Scientific Reports. He has been an investigator in research projects worth in excess of £46M, directly managing a budget of >£2M and is a co-investigator for the UK Faraday Institution battery research centre. He directly leads a team of 7 post-docs and 6 PhD students within the wider Electrochemical Science and Engineering group which has >50 researchers. Prior to his PhD in automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell-lithium-ion battery hybrid systems, he completed his masters in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2010.
Guest Links
- Billy Wu on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/icbillywu/
- Billy Wu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ICBillyWu
- Billy Wu/Imperial College website http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/billy.wu
Episode Links
- The Powerhouse: America, China, and the Great Battery War https://www.amazon.com/Powerhouse-America-China-Great-Battery/dp/0143128329I
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Synopsis
We all know the energy and mobility transitions are happening at a pace. This is the world myself and the team at Hyperion Executive Search live and breathe every day, much like our guest today. Florent has a deep interest and insights into the transitions which he shares with us today.
About our guest
Florent Andrillon, Energy Transition Global Lead of Capgemini Invent:
- Florent Andrillon is the energy transition global lead for Capgemini Invent, where he advises companies from different sectors on their energy and low carbon transformation projects
- Capgemini Invent is Capgemini group’s digital innovation, consulting and transformation global business line. Capgemini Invent combines market leading expertise in strategy, technology, data science and creative design, to help CxOs envision and build what’s next for their businesses.
- Florent has been witnessing the rise of e-mobility for many years now, starting with an mobility market forecasting project where he projected the rise of electric vehicles and the impact on fuel consumption.
- Florent graduated from EM Lyon in 2001. He started his career at Schlumberger, the giant oil services company, before joining Capgemini Invent in 2005. Since then, he has worked in France and abroad with players in the Energy and Utilities sector: large companies, players wishing to enter this market or parapublic organizations. He has supported these organizations since 18 years now in their strategic projects of energy transition, acceleration, and global transformation. More recently, Florent worked a lot with clients willing to leverage digital technology to accelerate their energy transition projects, especially in the area of smart building, e-mobility and smart energy.
- At Capgemini Invent, our ambition is to help our clients designing and executing their transformation to achieve their low carbon ambition, enabling the 2°C scenario. Within our portfolio of clients, we partner to be the one
- Increasing the share of low-carbon fuels for all types of transportation (electric, natural gas, hydrogen…)
- Helping industrials, buildings and cities to reduce their energy consumption and more widely their CO2 footprint
- Leveraging AI & digitalization to reduce CO2 emissions and create new business models
Guest Links
- Florent on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/fandrillon/
- Florent on twitter : https://twitter.com/fandrillon75
- Capgemini Invent website: capgemini.com/invent
- Capgemini Invent on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/capgemini
- Capgemini Invent on Twitter: https://twitter.com/capgeminiinvent
News stories discussed this week
- “Key Factors Defining The E-Mobility Of Tomorrow” : A focus on the EV charging infrastructure ecosystem and emerging business models.https://www.capgemini.com/resources/e-mobility-of-tomorrow/
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What’s it all about?
Martin Baart has a passion to bring solar projects to the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) sector in emerging markets. Fighting against local misconceptions about what solar can do, and bigger issues around how to fund such projects, they found a solution through crowdfunding, and transparency in all areas of the business. Martin and ecoligo have a great business and story to tell.
About our guest
Martin Baart has more than 14 years of experience in the renewable energy industry with more than 10 years in emerging markets. He started his career with a German regional municipality on grid integration of grid-scale solar PV projects. During his Masters he lived and worked in Australia for the global leader in Microgrids, Powercorp, on the technical integration of solar and wind solutions into Microgrids, mainly for remote communities, mining operations and island utilities. Moving into business development he opened up the European office for Powercorp. After successfully entering the market, he supported the management in its sale of the business to ABB. For ABB he build up the Microgrid business unit in Madrid, after which he left to join Berlin based Start-up OneShore Energy as CTO and first employee. With them he developed the East African markets and technologies suited for the risk minimization of Off-Grid Solar PPA’S. After building up the company, he left in 2015 to prepare for the foundation of ecoligo, addressing the key barrier for solar projects in emerging markets: a fully serviced and financed solution, taking away all worries from the clients. Since then, he led the business into regional hubs in Central America, West Africa and East Africa and introduced the solution also for energy efficiency projects in the markets.
Martin is a qualified Electronics Technician, has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Trier University of Applied Science, a Master of Business and Engineering from Steinbeis University in Berlin and a Global Executive Master of Business Administration from IE business school in Madrid. He also is a Certified Expert for Climate & Renewable Energy Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
ecoligo provides a fully financed solar-as-a-service solution for businesses in emerging markets. With a complete digital platform for financing and delivering solar projects, ecoligo removes the barriers that prevent such projects from being realised. Supplying businesses with affordable electricity enables them to grow and boost the local economy. The solar projects are financed through the crowdinvesting platform www.ecoligo.investments, offering fixed and attractive returns to private investors. Investments start from 100€ and save tonnes of CO2 emissions, enabling impactful citizen participation in the global energy transition.
- Martin Baart on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinbaart/
- Martin Baart on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartinBaart
- ecoligo on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecoligo/
- ecoligo website https://www.ecoligo.com& https://www.ecoligo.investments
- Martin Baart at EcoSummit 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NATDMQzZraU
- ecoligo on Twitter https://twitter.com/ecoligo
News stories discussed this week
- The Berlin start-up ecoligo will receive EUR 2.5 million of funding from Saxovent, an investor specializing in ecological investmentshttps://www.newsghana.com.gh/ecoligo-receives-eur-2-5-million-funding-from-saxovent/
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About our guest
This week David talks to Devrim Celal, CEO of Upside Energy.
Devrim is a highly successful, award winning entrepreneur with a career spanning leadership role in technology, finance and energy.
Educated in Paris, London and Yale, where he was a Fulbright scholar, Devrim has since held senior roles at A T Kearney where he led strategy development, Sapient where he established the European operations and as a partner at Lansdowne Corporate Finance. He is now CEO of UK energy tech company Upside Energy, leading the organisation from its initial days as a start up to its dynamic growth in this fast-growing sector. He is an avid athlete having been a regular competitor in endurance running events. He runs to promote awareness of and raise funds for MS related charities.
Working in the cloud, in real-time, the Upside Platform can respond rapidly to market signals and deploy new solutions as the energy system evolves. This means we can give our customers immediate visibility of their energy usage and device performance, identifying opportunities as they emerge. The Upside Platform can connect to a wide range of devices, including battery storage systems, electric vehicles, UPS and heating and cooling systems. Providing real-time data and advanced forecasting, it enables our customers to fully optimise their return on investment and market positioning, by dispatching demand-side flexibility in real-time.
Devrim Celal on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcelal/
Upside Energy on Twitter https://twitter.com/upsideenergy
Upside Energy https://upsideenergy.co.uk/
News stories discussed this week
Delta EE report on aggregators https://www.delta-ee.com/delta-ee-blog/demand-side-response-aggregators-the-race-to-profitability.html
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
From good to great- Jim Collins – https://www.delta-ee.com/delta-ee-blog/demand-side-response-aggregators-the-race-to-profitability.html
Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe
I’m very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.
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