Everyone agrees storage is having a moment. Fewer agree on where it belongs—and that’s where this Expert Sound Bite gets interesting.
Anna J. Siefken, Director of Policy and Markets at the LDES Council, makes the case that storage assets are still being undervalued for what they really do: batteries and BESS aren’t just a data center play—they’re long-term grid infrastructure that keeps power flowing reliably to municipalities, hospitals, and communities.
Cesar Barbosa, CEO of NuLife Power, brings the view from the field: PE capital increasingly won’t touch a solar repower unless BESS is bolted on—but not every site is actually right for it once you factor in the electrical infrastructure. The result? A lot of repowers get done with no battery at all, just squeezing more output within California’s 10% capacity allowance—and a real opening for providers who aren’t locked into requiring BESS on every deal.
Alex Shoer, Managing Partner at GridVest, rounds it out with the view from the deal desk: demand for storage has never been higher, the regulatory ground keeps shifting under it, and business models like GridVest’s — part distributor, part financier, part integrator—exist precisely because there’s no clean, single answer to “How do you finance this?”
