Energy Storage & Demand Flexibility

Demand Response

To build a truly intelligent grid, we must flip the traditional energy model from a one-way street to a dynamic conversation between supply and demand. This imperative is focused on creating the orchestration layer — software, sensors, and communication networks — that shifts energy-intensive tasks so they happen at times when power is plentiful. The goal is a coordinated system where industrial plants, data centers, commercial buildings, and household appliances can automatically shift their high-energy tasks to times when clean energy is abundant and cheap. This approach smooths out the grid’s peaks and valleys, dramatically increasing efficiency and reducing the need to overbuild capacity to meet peak demand.

Distributed Storage

Instead of relying solely on large, centralized energy storage facilities, this imperative aims to build a resilient energy backbone by embedding storage throughout the grid's endpoints. The idea is to create a vast, aggregated network of batteries — whether in buildings or grid-connected electric vehicles — that can collectively absorb surplus renewable energy when it's abundant, then dispatch it locally during periods of high demand. Innovating the systems to integrate these distributed assets transforms millions of passive consumers into active participants, enhancing grid stability and building a more modern, flexible electricity system from the ground up.

Long-Duration Storage

While we already have several pathways for long-duration storage, such as pumped hydro and hydrogen, significant economic and technical barriers prevent them from scaling to meet global grid demand. The core innovation challenge is developing new storage mediums and systems that drastically reduce capital costs, are location-agnostic, improve round-trip efficiency, and minimize energy leakage over multi-day to seasonal timelines. Achieving this will enable the affordable storage of vast amounts of renewable energy and make a reliable, 100% clean grid a reality.

Nuclear Batteries

What if electricity could be stored not in chemical bonds, but in atomic ones? This moonshot envisions using surplus clean power to drive particle accelerators that transmute stable materials into nuclear fuels — an ultra–energy-dense material — that can later be converted back into electricity. These fuels could store millions of times more energy per unit mass than today’s batteries, unlocking truly long-term, high-density storage. The challenges are enormous: developing efficient processes and ensuring the highest standards of safety and security for nuclear materials. If solved, nuclear batteries could deliver the ultimate form of long-duration storage, providing resilient, carbon-free power on demand.