Battery Startup Spider9 Signs Deal With Samsung
One of a Hawaii-based startup accelerator’s 2015 participants, Spider9, has signed a licensing agreement with the major South Korean technology corporation Samsung. Spider9 makes smart controllers that improve the performance of larger battery systems. Spider9’s OSE technology, which is a software, data, and control platform, can save money and improve profits for stationary energy storage systems.
“OSE allows us to reduce the lifetime costs of battery-based storage by up to 40%. We see this agreement with Samsung as validation that our technology has real and far-reaching value to the battery market, both inside and outside of the stationary energy markets,” said Spider9 CEO Glynne Townsend.
The company’s technology tracks the performance of every battery cell, which allows it to predict cell failures before they happen. Problem cells can be dealt with before they fail, which means a whole battery can function better. Spider9 also says its smart technology can extract up to 30% more energy from a battery cell and prevent thermal runaway, which can improve battery safety.
Spider9 also makes energy storage products using advanced controls and lithium-ion cells. One line of such products is called SpiderVault. Three products are available, offering 21.6 kWh, 28.8 kWh, or 36 kWh. They can be used for homes or businesses to increase solar self- consumption, act as backup power, and decrease utility demand charges. They could also be used to go completely off-grid.
That is not the only physical product Spider9 makes for energy storage, though. Another product line is called Spider Rack Pro. This one is an 86 kWh energy storage unit that works in conjunction with the software, control, and data platform. It is modular, meaning it can be combined with more units to increase energy storage capacity. This product is appropriate for commercial, industrial, and utility-scale applications. Each unit weighs 2,315 pounds and is about 8 feet wide and 8 feet high.
A battery startup might not get as much as attention as solar or wind technology, but energy storage is a critical piece of the renewable energy future.
Image Credit: Spider9
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When I follow the link it is a spec sheet, but no pricing information. Leaving someone to think they don’t include price because: (1) If you have to ask …, (2) they want you to haggle, (3) prices are dropping so fast, you have to ask (4) etc. As long as these storage companies don’t include some idea of price they are not ready for consumer prime time.
We are entering a blessed phase of lithium battery storage with advanced Battery Management Systems for residential and off grid. Phew, been a long time coming. Prices still need to fall by half, and some problems with battery degradation unrelated to cycle life has to be worked out (remember the leaf batteries in Arizona that died after 18 months). But by 2018 the new battery age will be upon us. Actually, of course it has been upon us for ten years in micro form of cell phones and laptops, but large scale, not so much.
This is good reminder how much there is innovation potential in grid storage systems. If grid storage battery systems are today close to parity with spinning reserve power, there should be able to halve the cost of battery storage by better control and optimatization of system life of Lithium-ion battery packs.
This is why the next phase of Energiewende is driven by storage battery technology. And this will be huge transformation as it may kill the baseload utility companies.