Season 5 Episode 8 - Charged for Change

William Barr, Director of manufacturing operations at Saft

I can't start a day without my coffee. And every time I hit that switch, I think about the energy behind it. Millions of us wake up, cook, and I'll get ready at the same time. So your energy usage across the whole grid is going to start to increase.

And here in Florida, we do have hurricanes. We have a lot of strong winds. And if energy is not stored and balanced, life savings, supports and services could go out. So we work to harvest renewable energy. But the sun, the wind aren't always there when we need them. And that is why stability matters. The grid does not run on nature's schedule.

[CNBC – Charged for change]

[Jacksonville, Floride]

Every day you see more solar farms being installed across the United States, which is great, but most people don't realize that the majority of the energy is produced during the day when the sun is shining and everybody's at work. And when you get home in the evenings for work, that's when the sun is not shining, energy consumption goes up, and that is where energy storage comes in play.

In Jacksonville, we're building energy storage systems that stabilize the grid and helps prevent unexpected power loss.

Erica Kelly, Engineering Director at Saft

All right here we are. So welcome to SAFT, but we have a few visitors here today. SAFT is a technology company with innovation and aviation hospitals, transportation cells and battery design.

We've even powered NASA missions in space. But here our focus is on energy storage systems to harness the power of the sun and the wind for use by communities worldwide.

William Barr

Electricity is cheaper during periods of low demand and this is when our energy storage systems are really doing their best work. It is during these times that ESS is charging and storing their energy for when we have much busier times and is quickly deployed to the grid.

Erica Kelly

One container can power a city block for about four hours and is designed and built for 20 years of reliability. And this is far longer than most of your household appliances, your refrigerator, your cars.

What excites me is seeing how these systems don’t just stay in the factory. They’re already out there. Powering communities, stabilizing grids, work, helping renewables reach their full potential.

Aria Sawicki, project manager, TotalEnergies

SAFT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Total Energies. It's the piece that allows energy to keep flowing even when the sunsets. That's why SAFT is an important part of our integrated power strategy in the US and worldwide. I'm so proud to work on these projects because of the scale and the impact we're able to make on our industrial clients. We help them reduce their emissions.

Erica Kelly

The US energy storage market is set to grow massively by 20-30.

William Barr

Every container that is built here supports local jobs and American manufacturing.

And not only that, our ESS can be used for rapidly growing energy sectors, which are data centers.

Erica Kelly

Energy has always been behind human progress.

William Barr

Coal helped to build our bridges and skyscrapers. Electricity gave us lights, life saving technology.

Erica Kelly

Now energy needs are surging again as more industries electrify. From aerospace and steel to cars, semiconductors and EV charging.

William Barr

Data centers already consume about 1.5% of the global electricity, and that demand is increasing and growing very fast. With storage, we can quickly respond to the rising energy needs. They greatly contribute to the decarbonization of the world.

Erica Kelly

This is why Total Energies and SAFT are scaling fast.

William Barr

The story of energy has always been the story of progress, and this is the next chapter.

[TotalEnergies logo]