🧪 What are the critical chemicals that need to be scaled for energy storage right now? In 5 years, what battery chemistry is going to be winning in the marketplace? We're changing the pace with two guests to answer these questions: Dr. Tyler Farnsworth and Tom Borak, who join BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer and bring their perspective from MERGE Chemistry—the custom/specialty chemical manufacturing division of Inorganic Ventures (IV Labs)—that can scale production of a wide array of active and additive materials for many different energy storage technologies. Their chemistry-agnostic view yields a unique perspective on the supply chain, 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, battery applications, and other trends in the energy storage space. (Note: here's a link to the USGS Critical Minerals publication that Tyler mentioned during the discussion: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20201127).

Recorded 27 April 2023.

🤺 How competitive is the energy storage market? On this episode, Cofounder & CTO of VoltStorage Michael Peither joins, as always, BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer to discuss this, the size of the need (in TWh), and perspectives on battery development cycles. VoltStorage is a leading manufacturer of vanadium redox flow batteries (V-RFBs) for agriculture and industrial applications requiring "Commercial" batteries (8-12+ hour discharge), and they have also established in-house pilot research in iron redox flow batteries (Fe-RFBs) for so-called "Long Duration" batteries (12-48+ hours discharge) that are critical for integrating renewable wind & solar into grid baseload capacity. The discussion further differentiates VoltStorage from other iron-battery companies ESS and Form Energy: ESS focuses on 12 hour storage, while Form is targeting the 100+ hour markets. VoltStorage's batteries achieve a cost of €70/kWh (~€100/kWh installed), and have 1500X the energy density of pumped hydro, which gives them hope they can capture 10% of the 12-48+ hour storage market.

Recorded 22 March 2023.

💦 Battery immersion cooling! What does that mean? Today's episode brings James Werbe of Wayside Energy for a conversation with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. As Wayside puts it, they're "creating a future to look forward to" starting with their novel thermal control approach for sodium ion (Na-ion) cells and how it helps with safety, reliability, sustainability, and scaling. We dive into just what immersion cooling entails, social NIMBYism vs. excitement for renewable energy, and making energy storage "smarter" through IoT interconnection protocols. Plus, we discuss how to think about engineering and community as tools for good, and how policy such as California's self-generation incentive program (SGIP, up to $1000/kWh!) help with that outcome.

Recorded 16 March 2023.

💤 Have you ever heard of "hibernation mode" for a battery? For this episode, BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer is joined by Mark Higgins of Redflow (ASX:RFX), a global company founded in Australia in 2005 (IPO 2010) that manufatures Zinc Bromine (Zn-Br) flow batteries. Tune in to learn from Mark just what Redflow's unique battery hibernation entails—not to mention their Zn-Br batteries' advantages in safety, depth of discharge, round trip efficiency, wide operational temperature range, and more. We dive further into Zn-Br use cases, Redflow's cumulative delivery of 3.2 GWh energy to customers through hundreds of systems installed across 10 countries and 5 continents, and forecasts for the next 5 years. Mark has a long history in renewable energy, so he brings a unique perspective as the head North American representative of a global battery manufacturer, giving insight into the true positive impact of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act on renewable energy project financing and domestic manufacturing objectives—as well as momentum in Li-ion as the incumbent energy storage technology.

Recorded 13 March 2023.

☀️ For this episode, Kristina "Kristy" Jansen joins the show with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. Kristy brings two decades of experiece to cleantech, having been in solar photovoltaic development in the early 2000's, followed by a stint in advocacy on the non-profit side, and recently returning to renewable energy with RAI Energy (pronounced "Ray") becasue there is so much work to be done. We discuss her unique childhood and how that shapes her view of renewable energy, what RAI actually does, some of the insights in energy storage technology maturity, supply chain considerations at the 100 MW / $100MM project scale, and some optimisitic advice for everyone as the green energy transformation unfolds. Enjoy!

Recorded 3 March 2023.

🎙️ Cleantech expert and Clean Power Hour podcast guru Tim Montague joins (as always) BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. The discussion ranges from the broad view of meta-trends in the cleantech space down to some actionable items for cleantech founders. Beyond the obvious "raise more money and grow," what are other features that up-and-coming clean energy storage technologies need to promote adoption? What alternative technologies will take a leading role in the next 5-10 years? What can clean energy leaders do to better communicate their companies' value propositions? Tune in to hear answers to these questions, and even the storage technology that surprised Tim the most!

Recorded 28 February 2023.

🧮 If US ratepayers spend an extra $25B/year towards buildout of 90% renewable generation in 2035, can you guess how many $Billions are saved in human and environmental health costs? (Hint: it's more than 10X the cost.) For this episode, Dr. Daniel Howard, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Energy Inc, joins BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer to discuss business and personal tradeoffs related to decarbonization of the grid (i.e. reducing carbon emissions while serving electricity demand), costs of the 90%-renewable-in-2035 vs. business-as-usual policy pathways, and some of the system level benefits of different types of energy storage. Daniel even flips the script and asks Nate some questions about BioZen! Quantum Energy develops a software model, TotalView Energy, that quantifies the true health and environmental costs of deploying clean and renewable energy, and the results are shocking.

Recorded 3 Nov 2022.

🏭 Russ and Nate continue the discussion, getting Russ' input the ongoing challenges in energy storage technology and deployment, the maturity of different scales and durations of energy storage technologies, and insights into the opportunities and surprises in bringing energy storage technology to market. Stick around for a forcast of what the energy storage mix will look like in 2035.

Recorded 23 August 2022.

💵 Wait, how many billions of dollars? Russ—who hails from Seattle and brings a decade of experience in the energy storage industry, including some flow batteries—sits down with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer to discuss the implications of the recent US Inflation Reduction Act (or IRA) on energy storage development.

Recorded 23 August 2022.

⚡ What's at the end of the transmission line? Craig sits down with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer to discuss community grid energy storage, and he shares more about the impetus behind his formation of the Clean Coalition, a little bit about how the grid works, why lithium-ion batteries are the "only" option right now, and his vision for what a fully renewable energy future will require from energy storage—starting with the 120 MWh battery project on deck right here in the Goleta Load Pocket.

Recorded 17 May 2022.