Why Big Tech could outpace utilities in deploying multi-day storage

Electric utilities rarely act as the vanguard of new energy technologies—it’s often private industry who makes the first bet.

This time, it’s the hyperscalers and Big Tech who are set to leapfrog utilities as the first major customers for and early adopters of multi-day energy storage (MDS), which can provide dozens of hours of capacity. For data centers, which require 24/7/365 firm power, MDS could be an attractive offer.

“Data centers are looking for as much energy and power as they can get, as quickly as possible,” explained Aric Saunders, the executive vice president of commercialization at ultra-long-duration storage and carbon battery start-up Noon Energy. The company is developing batteries that utilize reversible solid oxide fuel cell technology to convert between electricity and stored chemical energy.

He told pv magazine USA that speed to power has become a critical component of data center development. But, many of the most common solutions have one thing in common, he said: backlogs in shipping or technology development.

While long-duration storage and MDS are still in their (comparatively) early days vis-a-vis lithium-ion batteries, the technologies are scaling fast and are set to “become a viable solution in terms of power, speed and costs.”

“We haven’t had load growth for 20 years,” Saunders said, adding that the current moment is a turning point. Coupled with increasing renewable penetration, the 4-8 hours of storage capacity provided by most lithium storage systems just “isn’t sufficient” to create a satisfactory level of firm power for data centers without also needing diesel generators, which many companies are trying to move away from.

He sees MDS following a similar path to lithium, which evolved from a niche technology into a dominant industry force.

“It’s not necessarily a new technology, but a new application of the technology,” he said. While electric vehicles helped catapult lithium batteries to the spotlight, Saunders believes Big Tech may be the spark that sets off the long-duration boom.

“This is that push to get us off the margins and more mainstream, but it won’t be the final one,” he said. While we’re no longer in the earliest days of long-duration storage, Saunders expects the industry’s growth to be “exponential” in the next few years once the tech reaches bankability.

“There will always be early adopters and that’s where hyperscalers are our best allies,” Saunders added, noting that “utilities will admit it themselves that they’ll never be that first mover.”

Noon is focused more on not only continuing to derisk their tech, but making sure that their current customers, including hyperscalers, understand how it works and the value it can bring them.

“Solar or wind plus a long-duration battery? That’s an onsite power plant,” Saunders said.

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