Modo Selects: Offsetting carbon with batteries with Emma Konet (Co-Founder & CTO @ Tierra Climate)

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Nov 7, 2024

Emma Konet, Co-founder and CTO of Tierra Climate, discusses the intricate relationship between battery energy storage and carbon offsets. She explains how batteries can significantly reduce emissions by optimizing energy use during peak demand. The conversation dives into the complexities of measuring carbon savings and the need for better integration into existing frameworks. Emma also highlights the operational challenges faced in aligning profit motives with environmental goals and the potential for carbon offsets to financially bolster clean energy projects.

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INSIGHT

Carbon Offset Categories

Carbon offsets help companies reduce emissions, especially hard-to-decarbonize Scope 3 emissions.
These offsets fall into four quadrants: avoidance/removal and nature-based/engineered solutions.

INSIGHT

Unique Offset Type

Grid-scale batteries are a unique type of carbon offset: engineered avoidance.
They achieve this by storing renewable energy and displacing fossil fuel use during peak demand.

ANECDOTE

Origin of Tierra Climate

Emma Konet's experience working with energy storage dispatch led to Tierra Climate.
She noticed the difficulty in quantifying the environmental benefits of batteries.

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Battery energy storage systems in Great Britain are projected to save 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 in 2024. Carbon emission savings are achieved directly through a battery's energy actions, by importing low-carbon energy and exporting it when demand is high, whilst other methods include frequency response services and inertia management savings.

However, a battery's ability to reduce emissions is not inherent. Typically, they are operated to maximize profit, which may not always align with carbon-saving goals. For batteries to serve as effective tools for offsetting, there must be incentives to engage in emission-reducing behaviours. Insights into better carbon accounting and integration of storage into carbon accounting frameworks are some of the ways that can help identify how and where batteries can make the most impact.

In this episode, Quentin talks to Tierra Climate Co-founder and CTO, Emma Konet. Over the course of the conversation, they discuss:

The ‘four quadrants’ of carbon offsetting and where battery energy storage sits in this framework.
The complexities in accurately measuring emissions and the role of voluntary carbon markets.
Using locational marginal emissions factors for accurate carbon measurement.
Discussion on the operational challenges of batteries in reducing emissions.
The potential for carbon offsets to support energy storage projects financially.

Mentioned in the episode

White Paper: Charging towards net-zero

About our guest

Tierra Climate provide carbon insights to aid developers in siting and operations as well as assist corporations and utilities in making more informed procurement decisions and helpinf batteries decarbonize the grid. They offer a new class of carbon offsets that can boost battery project revenues, help accelerate decarbonization and improve grid reliability. For more information on what they do - visit their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy provides forecasts, benchmarking, data, and insights for new energy assets - all in one place. Built for analysts, Modo helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on Linkedin or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our video series of bite-sized chunks explaining how different battery energy storage systems work.