Some of the richest men in the world are betting on energy storage investments. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet certainly are, and both believe that smart technologies will revolutionize the way the electricity grid operates.
Gates has been investing in energy storage for a while, including Aquion Energy, Ambri, and LightSail. Buffett, on the other hand, is a major investor in Chinese electric car and battery developer BYD, a company that will be unveiling a home battery storage solution soon in Australia.
Last week, Gates and well-known investor in clean technology, Vinod Khosla, bought into Varentec, a US company currently developing technology that will link storage devices and renewables. The vision Gates and Khosla have is of low-cost, intelligent solutions for a decentralized power grid.
Investment bank, Citi, in its Energy Darwinism report, believes energy storage will be the next solar boom and speculates that as renewables become cost competitive, they will become more attractive in the mainstream. The key is to balance supply with demand.
The Citi report goes on to speculate that this will make other renewables more attractive in the market and could lead to the domination of centralized utilities that have the ability to harness distributed generation like solar and wind power.
