Connected Energy, which turns end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries into battery energy storage systems (BESS), has announced new appointments as it moves into utility-scale battery products.
Rob Moore joins the UK company as Commercial Business Development Officer (Utility Scale). He has experience from the energy sector, and previously worked for Aura Power, a PV and BESS greenfield developer active in the UK, EU and North America. He has also worked at Finance Suisse.
Dante Neto joins as Head of Sales – Europe. He held senior sales roles within the power industry covering Europe, North America and the Middle East. He has worked for Siemens, ABB and Hitachi Energy.
The company’s 300kW/360kWh E-STOR system is built using 24 second-life Renault EV batteries. It said a new range of products, to be released in 2023, are designed for larger, commercial scale and industrial applications. They will be suitable for both in front and behind the meter applications.
Volvo, Caterpillar and Jaguar Land Rover are also collaborating with the company, it said.
CEO Matthew Lumsden said second-life batteries have up to 80% of their original capacity when they go into a BESS. A battery management system monitors battery performance and individual batteries can be replaced as required.
He told BEST: “Connected Energy has invested heavily in monitoring the performance and safety of the batteries within its systems. The company has been working with the National Innovation Centre for data to introduce AI into its control systems. This enables our data team to predict any degradation in the state of health of the batteries and spots any deviation from the norm well in advance of any noticeable issues in their performance.”
