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April 23, 2025 41 mins

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What’s up, everyone! 

Today, we have a great episode with Danny Lu from Powin. Powin is a leading provider of BESS, w/ 8 GWh of systems built and 9 in the pipeline. 

As the Trump admin pushes for more drilling and a seemingly anti-clean energy policy (despite that not being the definition of abundance) we are seeing the value of battery storage. Prior to tariffs, building a speaker plant would be more expensive and take longer than building energy storage systems to manage grid flexibility issues. (It’s tbd what the situation will be with huge Chinese tariffs). 

Powin has years of experience working in this space to solve supply chain issues and is always improving its business to adapt to whatever battery chemistry is most feasible and affordable for its clients. 

Given all this, it was great to speak with someone who can help us understand where the market is going and what the key challenges and opportunities are that lie ahead. 

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Topics
Free Preview
* 00:00 Cold Open & Intro to Our Guest 
* 04:00 Origins & Evolutions of Powin
* 08:10 What They Do 
* 10:00 Creating the Market and Finding Their First Customers
* 13:00 Stepping Into a Leadership Role Out of University 
* 18:10 From Permit to Commissioning in Months
* 19:10 What an IPP/Utility Wants — Single Point of Blame
* 23:00 The Evolution of Battery Chemistry for BESS vs EV 
* 25:30 Powin’s Current Scale
* 26:50 Storage Project Market Projections Considering Tariffs
* 31:30 AI & Data Centers | BESS vs Peaker Plants
* 39:00 Manufacturing in the US? (teaser clip & paywall) 

Links
* Danny Lu | Powin
* Connect with Somil on LinkedIn | Connect with Silas on LinkedIn
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