What Ecosummit is set to reveal about energy storage innovation

In the field of energy storage, despite the massive contributions and breakthroughs being made by battery energy storage, no single solution fits all needs. Instead, a rich ecosystem of specialized approaches is emerging that contribute in special ways. The upcoming annual cleantech start-up/investor show, Ecosummit, held in Berlin each year, showcases cleantech from startups and hosts investors looking for new ideas.

In 2025, energy storage innovation is maturing, and it’s not all just in batteries. Three diverse storage companies spoke to ESS News as they head to the summit – withthegrid, emost, and Adaptive Balancing Power. They spoke to ESS News ahead of the summit on June 3-4.

withthegrid: Helping orchestrate the grid

Grid operators and owners of generating assets face many integration problems. As energy systems become increasingly decentralized, the challenge of integrating and controlling a multitude of assets grows. Paul Mignot, CEO and co-founder of withthegrid, has spent eight years solving a fundamental problem: making diverse energy assets speak the same language. Their Teleport gateway acts as a universal translator for solar inverters, batteries, and wind turbines that otherwise can’t communicate effectively with grid operators.

“There’s all these different brands—solar inverters, batteries, wind turbines. They don’t speak the same language, but they need to because you want to send them the right set points. That’s what the Teleport does: it’s the translation box,” Mignot told ESS News.

The Dutch company’s solution addresses three critical needs: protocol translation, grid protection, and regulatory compliance. With grid congestion everywhere and assets often over-dimensioned compared to connection sites, the Teleport acts as a local controller preventing transformer overloads while ensuring compliance across Europe’s fragmented regulatory landscape.

The startup has integrated with 50 different battery brands and operates on a monitoring-based revenue model rather than one-time hardware sales. Having established footholds in Belgium and Greece, they’re now targeting Germany’s more complex market.

“The German market has very strict regulations and many different DSOs. That’s a hurdle, but also an opportunity. There’s many pan-European players who just want to standardize, and we’re there for them so they can say ‘I don’t care what country I want to go to, I just want to make sure that the Teleport meets all regulations,’” Mignot explained.

emost: Clean power replacing diesel generators

Beyond the established grid, there’s a growing demand for clean, flexible power in off-grid locations or for temporary needs, replacing noisy, polluting diesel generators. Swiss company emost, which was spun out of energy giant Axpo, addresses this with its mobile battery energy storage systems. Their Butler S and Butler M units deliver 50kW and 150kW respectively, serving construction sites, film productions, and events. 

With over 100 units deployed across German-speaking markets, emost operates three business models: direct sales, “energy as a service” rentals, and IP licensing to equipment manufacturers.

“We’re operating in a business where we want to replace diesel generators. There’s 27 million diesel generators out there and so it’s a multi-billion market opportunity. But we’re going to need a lot of partners to really get to superscale,” Donald Monson, an early investor turned hands-on CEO at emost, told ESS News.

The company recently closed a seed-plus funding round featuring nine new investors including strategic partners. Their approach combines Swiss design with European manufacturing in Hungary, plus some re-use of batteries in a second-life setup.

“On our smaller units, we use new LMO batteries. But in the larger units, we’re using second-life NMC batteries from the automotive industry. It’s all part of the engineering calculus, the smaller unit needs to be light enough that anybody can pull it with a pickup truck,” Monson explained. The bigger unit can also be towed with a special drivers license.

Adaptive Balancing Power: Robust solutions for high-demand applications

While batteries continue to gain utility, key industrial and infrastructure applications require extreme power performance characteristics that demand alternative solutions; think high-power EV charging, rail system efficiency, and industrial microgrid stability. 

Germany’s Adaptive Balancing Power, with its advanced 250 kW / 20 kWh flywheel technology, is a key innovator in this space. Their flywheels run on magnetic bearings with virtually no wear, capable of one million cycles over 25 years. The technology targets applications where batteries struggle.

CEO and co-founder Hendrik Schaede-Bodenschatz told ESS News about their distinct contribution:

“If you have a demand application that required 15-20 cycles a day, a battery quickly reaches its end of life, whereas we can last decades. Plus, our supply chain for steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, and copper is European, so we’re not overly concerned about disruptions in global battery material supply chains.”

Adaptive Balancing Power’s technology highlights the importance of mechanical storage solutions for specialized, high-intensity roles, offering long-term reliability and a resilient European supply chain, crucial for critical infrastructure and demanding industrial processes.