Stem
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Type
Clean and Renewable Energy
Year
2016
Location
Millbrae, CA
Summary
Tom Rollason set up an onsite EV charging test to show the economic viability and market potential of pairing EV with energy storage.
Goals
Stem combines powerful learning software and advanced energy storage to help businesses better manage energy costs, while creating a more efficient electrical grid. EDF Climate Corps fellow Tom Rollason joined Stem to evaluate the market potential and economic viability of pairing energy storage with electric vehicle (EV) charging, as part of California’s goal of having EV stock reach 1.5 million by 2025. This increase represents a massive additional load on the existing electrical grid, posing a major challenge to grid operators and policy makers.
Solutions
Tom explored the opportunities around using Stem’s smart storage system to reduce peak demand, which would limit the impact on the grid and saving companies money, as well as develop the business case behind Stem’s value proposition. Alongside the field operations team, Tom worked on setting up an onsite EV charging test to track the power of chargers in the company car park. Having no raw energy data to build off, Tom gathered real-time interval data for the workplace EV charging units using Stem’s internal predictive analytics software, which shows EV charging on a minute-level. By using data on such a granular level, Tom could develop an accurate load profile to analyze the impact of EV charges and form a solid foundation for building out a thorough business model for pairing them with energy storage.
Potential Impact
By leveraging the internal expertise of business development, sales, sales operations, product management, installation, operations, and policy teams, Tom was able to construct a business case showing the economic viability of this pairing. Moving forward, Stem can follow Tom’s strategy for how to best pursue this opportunity.