There's no shortage of lists available to summarize 2023, but here at Darcy, we have a unique data set with activity on Darcy Connect from over 10,000 energy company Connect Users. Our data highlights which innovators gained most attention on Darcy Connect through views, clicks, likes, follows, meetings scheduled, fundings, and other factors. Combined with analysis from our Research Team about technology developments and market traction, we have selected the Top 10 Innovators from 2023 in each of our coverage channels. This is our way of saying: "these are the innovators that your peers are most interested in, and that our Researchers view as novel and impactful - so you should learn more about them". In this article, you will find the Innovators that made it on the list in the category of Renewables & Energy Storage.

But there is far more detail to look at than what you'll find here.

• The Innovator names are all linked to their Storefront, where you can find in-depth information on their products, business models, and our Research Team's insights. Here, Connect Users are able to schedule meetings with the Innovators or request updates.
• Throughout Q1, you will find weekly articles like this with Top 10 lists from our Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, Sustainability, and Energy Transition research programs.
• All articles will be followed by a Darcy Live Event. On the Event page, you can find the full Darcy Live schedule for Q1.

Here you can find our event for Renewables & Energy Storage: Best of 2023: Renewables & Energy Storage, scheduled for next Thursday January 25th, 2024.

The Top 10 Innovators from 2023 in Renewables & Energy Storage (in random order):

• FlexGen: Making the list for the second year in a row, FlexGen, a leading Li-ion energy storage integrator launched their new version of their software platform (HybridOS 11) for utility, power generation, and industrial customers. A milestone for Flexgen in 2023, was a project approval with Alliant Energy on a 175 MW / 700 MWh BESS project. To date, has installed or delivered over 5 GW of battery storage projects.
• Nomad Power: Among the first companies worldwide to supply a mobile energy storage system (MESS) for grid applications. In late 2022, Green Mountain Power bought Nomad’s first large-scale battery trailer (1 MW/2MWh).
• Smartville: Reuses and repurposes EV Li-ion batteries supplying BESS for grid-scale energy storage. Smartville has signed supply agreements with Honda and Koura Global and in 2023 announced a $542 million funding round (one of the largest cleantech equity raises of 2023).
• Enervenue: Providing nickel-based batteries. Enervenue has a broad discharge range between 2 and 12 hours, enabling both short and long-duration energy storage (LDES), the batteries have a lifetime of 30 years (doubling Li-ion’s) and it’s an inherently safe, non-flammable, and easily recyclable chemistry. Enervenue has been able to deploy several kWh-scale pilot projects in the US and overseas.
• Eos: Develops zinc-bromine batteries. Their proprietary zinc-hybrid cathode is less toxic than Li-ion, has a high cycle-life, can operate in wide temperature ranges, and enables LDES applications. Eos batteries are nonflammable and degrade less than 3% over 20 years. They are among the vendors with more deployments in the LDES area, their largest project is coupled with a plant in South Carolina, with a storage capacity of 72MWh.
• Form Energy: Among Form Energy’s main investors are Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, and it was co-founded by Tesla's former VP. Their iron-air batteries enable multi-day LDES, with +100h of continuous discharge. In 2023, Form announced an agreement with Georgia to deploy a 15 MW / 1500 MWh battery system, due in 2026.
• ESS: ESS’ iron-salt flow batteries are one of the oldest in the LDES space. In 2023, ESS received a $27.5M investment from Honeywell, which also agreed to purchase $300M of ESS’ products. ESS has also agreed to deliver up to 200MW/2GWh to SMUD.
• Rondo: Rondo, one of the leaders in the Thermal Energy Storage space, placed its first pilot project, the 2MWh pilot came online early in 2023 and is operating. They have another project for 2024 which would be a full-scale 120MWh installation.
• Electrified Thermal Solutions: ETS’ main characteristic is its broad operating temperature (200 - 1800 C), which enables its technology to be deployed for a broad variety of industrial processes and across different industries. Despite being in pilot phase, ETS has received a equity investment from their VC investors for USD 4.5M to develop their battery and accelerate its deployment.
• Renewell: Renewell Energy is re-purposing inactive oil and gas wells, converting them into a gravity-powered energy storage device. Their pilot project will soon be in place in Q1 2024.

Let us know if you have any questions or comments about this list in the comment section below. We're looking forward to another year of exciting and insightful research!