Mention battery startups and most people in the investing or entrepreneur circles will start thinking about electric vehicle batteries.
With the e-mobility sector all being the rage, this should be hardly surprising.
But there is an equally large - and should I say perhaps larger - market segment for batteries, and that's the stationary storage sector.
Be it for the fast growing solar or wind power plants, or even simply being a replacement for the current diesel generator backup units in many developing and underdeveloped economies, the stationary battery storage segment is all set to see impressive growth over the next two decades and beyond.
Mention battery startups, and what comes to mind today are sexy startup doing some exotic batteries for electric vehicles.
That segment sure is exciting, but equally interesting (and possibly equally large) is the lower profile stationary battery storage market, known in industry circles as ESS.
I'm not sure how it is in developed countries, but in developing (and more so in less developed) countries, backup power is critical for most businesses.
And what runs backup power today?
Diesel generators based power, something that's becoming costlier every year, and is also a CO2 emitter.
The diesel genset market in India and elsewhere is really looking for alternatives and batteries are an ideal choice. And if you can combine that with solar, you get a combo that is healthy for the environment and for the company's balance sheet.
Look out for significant startup interest in this space, folks.
