Beyond Lithium

💯 Pop Quiz! Define the following: EPCs, SCADA systems, upregulation, downregulation, frequency regulation, spinning reserves, timeshifting, and dispatchable assets. Didn't get them all right? That's okay! We've brought in Mahesh Morjaria of Terabase Energy to get you up to speed in conversation with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. We're going to dive into just what an engineering marvel the grid is, and what it means to install something "on the grid." Over the last 25 years, 1.1 Terawatts of solar photovoltaic power generation has been grid integrated, and society needs to 10X that (at least!) over the next 25. You'll notice that a baseload of Terawatts combines to Terabase—the company name—and they have two major initiatives to make this happen: (1) Modern digitalization tools, and (2) construction automation, because while solar panels are constructed with 21st century tech, they're still installed with 19th century techniques. Stick around to learn about how new solid-state power electronics interconvert DC and AC signals, and how those same electronics enable photovoltaics to talk to batteries in solar + storage plants so that they actually provide grid services more effectively than conventional generators. In the end, Terabase and solar + battery system developers are agnostic to battery systems as long as they can be controlled to deliver the appropriate output to the grid.

Recorded 4 April 2023.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

♻️ What does "sustainability" mean to you? How do you put a price on the safety of a battery? If we want society to adopt renewable energy, why is there so much NIMBYism about it? To answer these questions, and more, clean energy expert Ilja Pawel calls in from Austria to join BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. Ilja is an independent consultant and star communicator on renewable energy generation and storage technologies, and you can find his writings and talks both online (e.g. LinkedIn) as well as at conferences (such as Intersolar). The discussion covers the "hard" and "soft" costs of energy storage technologies, how to evaluate different technologies (such as Li-ion vs. flow batteries), the urgency of energy storage deployment, and how to positively re-orient your perspective on renewable energy. Ilja has some gems of wisdom for everyone in the renewable space!

Recorded 31 March 2023.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

🦠 You've heard of two major domains of life: Bacteria (think E. coli) and Eukaryotes (like yeast, plants, animals, etc). Do you know what the third major domain is? (Hint: it's hidden in the company name, Electrochaea.) Do you know how it stores energy? Tune into this episode where Doris Hafenbradl joins BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer to discuss these ancient microorganisms—the biocatalysts at the heart of Electrochaea's technology. Their process uses renewably-sourced hydrogen gas (H2) from electrolysis to convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into stored energy in the C-H chemical bonds of bio-generated methane molecules (CH4). The discussion ranges across the scalability, intermittency tolerance, and global manufacturing benefits of this approach; details of Electrochaea's 1, 10, 25, and 75 MW reactor scales; the path to converting 3M tonnes of CO2 to CH4 (equivalent of 50+ TWh capacity!) by 2030; how bio-methane integrates into existing infrastructure; and even a little advice for the renewable energy technologists out there.

Recorded 28 March 2023.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

🧪 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

🤺 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

💦 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

💤 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

☀️ 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

🎙️ 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]

🧮 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.

[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]