New hardware, particularly around grid-forming and sodium-ion solutions, were a key theme over the three days. Sodium-ion especially was talk of the town, following big industry news in the space. Stephan said new technologies are always exciting, but that analytics and software are also hugely significant and less talked about.
“The cells are innovating, more energy density is driving cost declines and better performance, and that’s very exciting,” Stephan said. “And we can’t not talk about sodium-ion. We’re not quite there in terms of large-scale deployments in Europe or the US, but it’s definitely a technology that will bring benefits to more and more customers.”
“But also digital integration, especially analytics platforms, is a newer trend with external providers supporting many customers, and we’re integrating many of those. This AI-enabled digital element is a key trend we’re seeing.”
“It’s not headline-grabbing in the same way. If we’re ramping up availability from 98% to 99% because of this, or adding a year of lifetime to a project, that is not headline grabbing but on a project economics basis that still makes a huge difference.”
Data centres and BESS in Europe
