Storio is a French startup focused on providing smart energy storage to commercial and industrial customers. The startup, founded in 2023, raised a seed round of 5 million euros (about $5.5 million at current exchange rates) earlier this year and signed its first customer.
Storio believes that solar panels have a bright future. But the company also wants all solar panels to include batteries to optimize production. Its target customers are other businesses that may not feel they have the time or expertise to participate in all these technical parts themselves.
Instead of manufacturing or selling standalone batteries, Storio has adopted a more interesting distribution strategy. After performing technical and revenue simulations, we partner with battery suppliers and civil engineering companies to transform the project into an energy storage facility.
Over the past few years, many commercial and industrial companies have built large-scale solar panel installations to lower electricity costs. Storio wants to complement (and leverage) these existing installations by offering an energy storage solution that allows customers to optimize their solar energy consumption, thanks to Storio's battery management software.
Once the battery is operational, Storio remotely manages it, optimizing not only consumption but also general energy storage and release.
Typically, batteries are charged during the day and energy is released in the morning and evening, but Storio's software enables smarter features such as price-aware energy management.
“That's the starting point. You have solar panels, right? Solar panels generate a lot of energy during the day. Let's save it so we can use it ourselves and save money,” says Co-Founder and CEO. Jean-Yves Stephan told TechCrunch.
Founders of Storio (from left to right: Caroline Le Floch, Jean-Yves Stephan, Gautier Maigret, Julien Dumazert) Image credit: Storio
For example, Storio can charge its battery from the grid during off-peak hours, so clients don't have to use as much power during peak hours. Many industrial companies have struggled with expensive energy contracts over the past few years, so partnering with Storio is a way to reduce the risks associated with energy market fluctuations.
“The core of our value proposition is optimizing energy flow to either save customers money on their bills or generate additional revenue from the grid,” Stephan said.
Storio batteries have also been certified in France by Enedis and RTE as contributing to grid stabilization. This means that Storio can choose to release energy into the grid for short periods of time from the battery fleet it manages during peak demand periods, generating revenue as a result of its contribution to the grid.
In this case, it may be more profitable for Storio customers to release energy from the battery rather than consuming it themselves for core business purposes.
“Stabilizing the network requires fairly technical mechanisms, such as stabilizing the network frequency. The grid frequency should be 50Hz [in Europe]. The battery will react if you move it up or down a little. It can also be used to buy and sell energy, like 'Energy Trader',” Stefan added.
The energy trading part is an essential part of the startup's proposal, as it can significantly reduce the time it takes to depreciate Storio equipment.
The company estimates that customers can see a return on investment after five to six years, but the battery has a lifespan of up to 15 years (if it ends up at about 70% of its initial capacity). ).
Storio and each industrial partner hosting its battery management facilities will enter into a profit-sharing agreement. “As you say, aligning the benefits is very important because we have to make some trade-offs. If we say, ‘The savings are yours, and the network revenue is Storio That would be unfair,” Stefan says.
Lowercarbon Capital led Storio's seed funding round, and Bpifrance's large venture fund also took a stake in the startup. Kima Ventures and several business angels, including the founders of Bump, Electra, Elum Energy, Enspired, and Greenly, are also investing in the startup.
Other companies working on on-site battery management include GridBeyond in the UK, Stabl in Germany and Stem in the US. Regulations vary from region to region, so Storio appears well placed to tackle the French market and possibly other European countries in the future.