As the market for stationary storage grows, it is becoming more mobile. With the rental model that Younicos is introducing, a storage device can be put in place for a limited amount of time and moved when conditions change.
While not the first example of such leasing, Younicos’s move demonstrates another way for storage companies to differentiate themselves.
“We believe that this offering extends the benefits of energy storage to a new segment of customers who, for one reason or another, value financial flexibility,” Alexander Schönfeldt, head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa sales for Younicos, said in a statement.
Under the company’s “Energy-Storage-as-a-Service” model, customers pay a rental fee, as well as mobilization and de-mobilization charges, but incur no other costs. The storage systems are housed in containers and can be shipped to the site, dropped in place and operated by Younicos.
“Younicos’s move makes sense,” considering that the company’s corporate parent is Aggreko, one of the largest rental providers of power generating equipment in the world, Tim Grejtak, an analyst at Lux Research, told Utility Dive. Younicos was acquired by Aggreko last year in a $52 million cash deal.
The move is another sign of a wider trend under way in the energy storage industry, Grejtak said. “We are starting to see more differentiation in financial business models, which is important,” he said.
At first, companies differentiated themselves by the assets or technology they offered. But the ubiquity of lithium-ion batteries obviated that, Grejtak said. Next, companies differentiated themselves with control software, but most companies now offer some form of software. “Now, companies are looking at differentiation by finance. We saw a similar differentiation in the solar industry when companies began to adopt the solar lease model,” Grejtak said.
Younicos’s model may be unique, but it is not the first company to offer an alternative to the outright purchase of a storage system or even a temporary storage solution.
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