Stem Steps Into Grid-Scale Storage With Partnership in Massachusetts
The commercial storage pioneer is building bigger battery systems than ever before.
Stem is jumping from behind-the-meter energy storage into the grid-connected battery realm.
The decade-old startup, known for using batteries to help commercial customers manage demand charges, just stepped to the front of the meter market. Stem will build 28.2 megawatts/28.2 megawatt-hours of solar-paired energy storage across five sites in Massachusetts, working with private equity firm Syncarpha Capital, which develops, owns and operates solar plants.
The partnership, announced Tuesday morning, reflects two recent trends in Stem’s evolution since the early days of commercial storage.
After years of developing storage projects internally, and even building its own battery enclosures back in the early days, Stem shifted course recently to deliver more projects through partnerships with solar installers. The strategy takes advantage of growing interest in storage development among local and regional commercial solar installers, while reducing customer-acquisition costs for Stem.
The company laid off workers at the end of April amid the shift to prioritize partner-driven business.
At the same time, Stem has targeted larger-scale projects to deliver better economies of scale on distributed storage installations. It went into the Ontario market last year, where large industrial customers have begun installing megawatts’ worth of storage to deal with a provincial Global Adjustment charge.
Even the standalone commercial projects that form the bulk of Stem’s business are regularly hitting or exceeding the 500-kilowatt mark, a far cry from the 18-kilowatt systems the company initially went to market with.
“Our project sizes are definitely trending up, without a doubt,” said Chief Revenue Officer Alan Russo in an interview Monday. “Ultimately, I think the bigger the project, the more value we can deliver, so obviously that’s attractive to us.”
Today’s announcement offers both a specific example of the channel partner approach and the company’s first public instance of storage connected directly to the distribution grid, rather than being sited behind a customer’s meter. Read More On…
Source: greentechmedia
