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Engie targets B2B energy storage market

Engie has taken its first steps into tapping the emerging energy storage solutions market with a $6 million investment in California-based start up Advanced Microgrid Solutions.

The energy company, formerly known as GDF Suez, said the investment in the utility-scale storage company will expand its efforts to develop the first comprehensive B2B energy storage solution in Europe.

Energy storage has emerged this year as an increasingly attractive investment option for energy companies and businesses in order to reduce bills and take advantage of increasingly cost effective on-site energy generation. Engie said the technology offered by AMS could allow businesses to shave 25 per cent from their peak power demand.

“Renewable energy is taking a lead worldwide and with advanced energy storage technology we can both solve the problem of intermittency and make the grid more resilient,” said Engie chief operating officer Isabelle Kocher on the company’s new direction.

Utilities analysts at RBC Capital reacted to the news saying that any utility not taking the potential of energy storage seriously “could face problems down the line”.

“We see battery storage as a potential destructive force for the traditional utility model if costs fall to a level that makes large scale deployment commercially viable,” the analysts added.

AMS is currently leading the US energy storage market with the development of 50MW B2B energy storage projects for utility Southern California Edison.

Engie is not the first traditional energy company to look to the tech-hub of California to develop innovative consumer offerings. Utility Week reported earlier this year that RWE has sent a small hand-picked team to Silicon Valley to identify new partners, technologies and solutions so we can come up with an initial business model for our markets in Europe.

RBC Capital said although Engie’s investment is “an immaterial sum” for a company of its size, it is encouraging to see the company becoming active in this space.