Advantages Abound for Lockheed Martin’s New Energy Storage Effort

Guidehouse Insights recently attended the Energy Storage Association’s 26 Annual Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference has grown between 2010 and 2016 from approximately 300 attendees to over 1,600. This increase highlights not only the ramping interest in energy storage, but also the growth of the sector and supply chains as a whole.

One new exhibitor this year was Lockheed Martin’s new energy line of business. Lockheed Martin has consolidated energy-related technologies, products, and services from separate business lines into a new, integrated offering, which includes an energy storage segment. The company’s energy storage segment includes a turnkey lithium ion (Li-ion) battery energy storage system (BESS) module as well as a pre-commercial flow battery.

Targeting Commercialization

Lockheed Martin’s BESS uses Li-ion cells from unnamed leading battery manufacturers that have been integrated into a flexible and scalable integrated module along with power conversion technology, thermal management, and software and controls. The company’s pre-commercial flow battery technology is based on technology acquired from Sun Catalytix in 2014. Lockheed Martin is currently targeting a 2018 commercialization date for its flow battery technology.

Lockheed Martin is currently targeting both larger utility-scale applications and the commercial and industrial behind-the-customer meter segment. Having a short-duration, power-focused solution and a long-duration, energy-focused BESS solution will be key for the company. Guidehouse Insights has focused on the landscape for these two sectors in detail in two recently published reports: Market Data: Commercial & Industrial Energy Storage and Market Data: Advanced Batteries for Utility-Scale Energy Storage. Lockheed’s new flow battery (along with other flow batteries and beyond Li-ion pre-commercial battery chemistries like lithium sulfur and lithium solid state) will be the focus of Guidehouse Insights’ Next-Generation Advanced Batteries report scheduled for release later in 2016.

Key Advantages

Guidehouse Insights sees the following criteria as key go-to-market advantages for companies focused on both the behind-the-meter and utility-scale energy storage sectors:

• Access to an existing global customer base across the commercial, industrial, utility, and government sectors
• Strong experience in commercializing new technology into new markets
• A history of integrating new technology offerings into existing product lines and sales channels
• Strong systems engineering expertise with complex technologies and products
• Both short-term, power-focused and long-term, energy-focused BESS solutions

Many of the pre-commercial battery technologies currently under development look to well-funded strategic partners for additional investment and future product go-to-market capabilities. For Lockheed Martin, with the acquisition of the Sun Catalytix technology, the company is in essence its own strategic partner. Guidehouse Insights will be watching Lockheed Martin’s energy storage strategies closely, as the company appears well-positioned to join others like GE Current, Johnson Controls, AES Energy Storage, RES Americas, and NEC Energy Solutions in the energy storage space.