New battery performance monitoring and management startup awarded £170K from Innovate UK to help further advance their cutting-edge technology

CBI has invited Manchester-based start-up enee.io to join our guest blog to share their story regarding a £170K award from UK government agency Innovate UK to further advance their cutting-edge battery monitoring and management technology in relation to industrial lead batteries, a vital technology utilized across the globe for back-up and utility and renewable energy storage.

enee.io, a startup organisation based in Manchester, United Kingdom, has been awarded a grant from Innovate UK Sustainable Innovation Fund to help further advance their innovative battery monitoring and management technology. Innovate UK is the government’s agency for innovation providing funding for pioneering research and development in the United Kingdom. 

The technology developed by enee.io is applied to industrial lead batteries to provide early detection of potential battery issues through online data analytics, expert insight, machine learning and advanced algorithms. The sophisticated IoT technology enables intervention to prevent premature battery failure, which results in increased battery performance and a reduction in the lifetime cost of ownership, two key objectives detailed in CBI’s Technical Roadmap.

Lead batteries play a crucial role for the industrial market, providing over 90% of global demand for batteries in this sector. David Smith, the CEO and Founder of enee.io said: “Premature battery failure is a common problem faced by installers worldwide, mostly due to the incorrect maintenance. enee.io has found a quick and affordable solution by using sophisticated monitoring technology to ensure that any issues can be flagged in real time and solved efficiently, saving users both time and money in replacement.” 

Improving efficiency and lifetime of batteries are two key technical parameters considered by end-users installing batteries for back-up, utility and renewable energy installations. The recent grant from Innovate UK will enable enee.io to expedite the development process and bring forward the launch of a viable product that provides automated remote monitoring of industrial battery systems used for back-up power of critical infrastructure, particularly for solar systems in remote areas of Africa where there is little or no access to the grid. 

As the world transitions to a low carbon future, demand for renewable energy storage continues to soar, and the role of batteries is essential in meeting this demand. Lead batteries as a technology which safe, reliable, sustainable and cost-effective will continue meeting this growth and will continue to innovate to ensure performance enhancements are achieved. Intelligent battery monitoring and management systems are a significant pathway in which these enhancements in performance can be achieved. enee.io ensures an affordable solution for users globally to increase the efficiency of their battery fleets and improve access to energy. 

Co-Founder & CPO Duncan Jones remarks: “We believe this development will have a significant impact on both the future of industrial battery management in the UK and the uptake of renewable power globally, particularly in developing economies.”

Successful feasibility studies have been conducted at both a leading university in Manchester and on renewable power systems in Lagos, Nigeria. The findings on the enee.io Battery Monitoring System (EBMS) surpassed expectations, flagging issues with battery health early, which could be solved in real-time, with one project preventing an entire fleet failure when using the EBMS. 

The studies conducted have demonstrated that the technology can be applied in remote areas in Nigeria where access to the grid is often unstable, as well as allow for insight into issues with data retrieval where mobile networks are weak.