In a significant milestone for the development of its microgrid technology, ElectricFish has been issued a patent that uniquely covers the creation of a “utility of the future” that is built of locally decentralized energy storage units and dynamically optimizes energy to enable a seamless and grid-resilient transition to EV charging.
Why does this matter?
- The fundamental nature of how we generate and consume energy is changing. The energy that was originally generated for communities with homes and industries is now serving power-hungry electric vehicles – each drawing enough power as 300 homes when fast charging. This will break the grid and limit our ability to deliver on our extremely optimistic goals of EV adoption.
- Utilities are currently struggling to integrate more EV charging loads because the grid is not designed for it.
- The patent is overarching in a way that it also covers the creation of a decentralized utility of the future. One of the augmentations which I just filed as a Continuation-In-Part to our patent, is how to optimize this energy storage and how to exactly build a geographically distributed storage network, figuring out where exactly we are going to put these units so we can augment the capacity of the grid.
- Companies that build centralized storage are taking advantage of the current electricity grid. The new electricity grid will serve local areas better and more equitably.
What is next?
- Electric Fish’s solution being deployed in dense urban communities and at locations like gas stations increases the electric grids’ ability to act as an energy buffer, which can store local energy generation as well as support the growth of Extreme-Fast public EV charging.
- Electric Fish uses data to drive equitable access in the deployment of their technology.
- By keeping track of metrics like greenhouse gas emissions mitigated they aim to reduce the mean level of particulate matter found in urban settlements and reduce the disaster risk for communities by building local energy resilience.
- ElectricFish can start conducting business and is bidding into resource adequacy contracts with aggregators.
Outlook
ElectricFish serves a gap in the market where utilities are struggling (with EV charging load). The main value proposition is the ability to manage units together and then use the aggregated capacity effectively. Optimistically, they will solve the challenges of building local energy capacity and serving fast charging inside cities.
About The Author
Daniel currently works at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His original assignment was to maintain and update facility safety documentation for all facilities on-site, and perform risk analysis. Over time, his role has expanded to leading continuous improvement efforts through product management.
Concurrently, Daniel volunteers with Techstars, helping organize startup weekends, and with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, organizing events on the local and national levels of the organization. He also volunteers with One World, and previously with Powerhouse Ventures, to source and screen startups for potential investment.
Daniel holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from UC Davis, and recently completed coursework in energy innovation from Stanford. His passion is at the intersection of sustainability, innovation, and business.