“At Titan we don’t make batteries, we make batteries work better.” With this claim, Titan Advanced Energy Solutions (Titan AES) has established a clear objective to be reached in the energy sector. As for the motivation behind this ambition, it is also admirable: “We want to accelerate the shift towards electrification. Titan is our vehicle for having a positive impact on the world and leaving behind the planet we want our children to experience and enjoy,” explains Sean O’Day, the company’s Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer.

A key to improve battery safety and optimize battery sizing and use

Current Battery Management Systems (BMS) have an inaccuracy problem that is part of every Lithium-Ion battery system in the world: they rely on estimates, not measurements. That is why the startup is developing an ultrasonic-based battery measurement and control system to increase capacity, extend the life cycle and improve the safety of Lithium-Ion batteries. Their technology is called ionView™. “It uses ultrasound signals to measure the state of charge and state of health of batteries in real time,” explains O’Day.

This makes it possible to create “a highly accurate battery management system that may increase the usable capacity of a Lithium-Ion battery by approximately 20%, and may double its life cycle. This means less batteries needed and consequent decrease of net greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy storage.” O’Day adds.

Furthermore, ionView also could make safer battery usage possible by observing and alerting to outgassing (the formation of hydrogen inside a battery cell) unlike than any other BMS. The system can then alert the operator and simply have those cells removed as part of standard maintenance avoiding potentially catastrophic failures.

"An elegant solution that may improve proficiency and safety of our assets"

Gianluca Gigliucci, head of Energy Storage Innovation at Enel Green Power

A working relationship with a bright future

At Enel, thanks to our many collaborations and our recently opened Innovation Hub, we have actively engaged with the innovation culture of the Boston ecosystem. Through our involvement with Greentown Labs and thanks to Sander Cohan, Director of Innovation at Enel Green Power North America, we were able to hook up with Titan AES and decided to develop a collaborative project together.

“We acted as we usually do with startups: we offered the possibility to demonstrate actual value of the product under development and paved the way to its massive deployment”, commented Gianluca Gigliucci, head of Energy Storage Innovation at Enel Green Power. Indeed, in addition to define the key performance indicators the ionView should satisfy for Enel applications, Enel Green Power immediately involved Narada, one of its battery suppliers, in the testing phase, in order to accelerate the deployment path for ionView solution.

"Enel innovation culture is refreshing, and is unusual for a traditional utility"

Shawn Murphy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer/Chief Technology Officer of Titan Advanced Energy Solutions

Shawn Murphy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer/Chief Technology Officer of Titan Advanced Energy Solutions highlights Enel’s unique and unconventional characteristics: “Its innovation culture is refreshing, and is unusual for a traditional utility. Its ability and desire to work with early-stage technology startups has enabled us to expand towards global opportunities far sooner than expected. It has an allocated innovation budget and is ready to invest in early stage technology innovation projects: this is almost unheard of in the utility world.”

At the same time working with startups such as Titan AES is a breath of fresh air for Enel. Together, we have a shared objective: it is, in the words of O’Day, “To deliver commercially viable technology (ionView) to existing and future Enel projects.” Moreover, “this opportunity allows Titan to demonstrate its technology with a global utility company, while Enel gains a first-mover competitive advantage by implementing cutting-edge energy storage technology.”

The future of energy is around the corner and with Titan we'll be ahead of the rest of the pack.