The Faraday Institution
October 2022
Batteries for energy access
With increasing deployments in solar PV due to falling prices, the main bottleneck to energy access in many emerging economies is now shifting from power generation to energy storage.
By funding research into battery technologies that would offer low cost, high safety, and low maintenance for stationary applications, the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage (ACES) aims to address this bottleneck. Working with The Faraday Institution, we helped develop the business case for a three-year funding of £5 million comprising a suite of long-term research projects (3+ years), short industry sprints, a strategy for progressing along the technology readiness level (TRL) path, and a strategy for leveraging the funding through global partners as well as communication and dissemination of outcomes and impacts.