ENGIE New Ventures, the corporate venture fund of ENGIE, is participating in a new round of investment to further the development of Connected Energy. Based in the United Kingdom, Connected Energy uses end-of-life EV batteries to create energy storage systems. These combine as many batteries as are needed for tailor-made solutions with capacity ranging from less than 100 kilowatt hours up to 15 megawatt hours or more.

Connected Energy’s E-STOR, a stationary energy storage technology that extends the life of electric vehicle batteries by 5-10 years, is deployed whenever flexible, modular and short or longer-term electricity storage systems are needed.

The round welcomes Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 alongside existing investors ENGIE New Ventures, Sumitomo and Macquarie, among others. It is also matched by R&D grant from Innovate UK as part of the ENGIE and UKRI Clean Growth Innovation Fund.

With E-STOR commercial scale energy storage systems, end users can generate new revenues, save energy costs and make better use of renewable energy generation. The aggregated battery systems can help stabilize the existing electricity grid or be used to build autonomous mini-grids. At construction sites, which require high levels of power for short periods, they compare favorably to generator systems whose use is limited by emissions restrictions and noise regulations.

We almost double the working life of the batteries for vehicles and thereby greatly increase the value created from the resources already embedded in them. Our objective is to provide our end-customers with bankable energy storage systems and our battery supply partners with reliable routes to market for their second-life batteries. With this additional investment we aim to capitalize on our system data to further optimize our technology and continue to scale up our development plans.

—Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy

Connected Energy currently has systems operating in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and is pursuing opportunities in other European countries as well as Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

ENGIE New Ventures (ENV) is the corporate venture arm of ENGIE, the global energy and services provider.