NLR and Blip Energy Collaborate on Smart Home Battery System

Drop-In Solution Benefits From Laboratory Expertise Through Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator To Cut Electric Bills and Strengthen Grid Reliability

A smart home battery and energy management platform by Chicago startup Blip Energy is advancing through the 14^th cohort of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), launched in November 2024 and based at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) to give early-stage companies access to the laboratory’s technical expertise, capabilities, and facilities.

Blip was chosen alongside Canada’s Evercloak and Massachusetts’ Transaera, with each company focused on the cohort’s theme of developing scalable, drop-in solutions that maximize energy efficiency for the built environment. Through IN2, Blip received $200,000 in nondilutive funding from Wells Fargo & Company in the form of NLR technical assistance.

At the center of this partnership is NLR’s Ravi Kishore, a mechanical engineer on the building technologies team, who is helping Blip analyze the performance and market potential of its first product offering, blipOne, through rigorous techno-economic assessments grounded in the national laboratory’s building energy and grid systems research.

Supporting the Grid

More compact than a carry-on suitcase, blipOne is a smart battery designed to mitigate peak energy demand, optimize energy costs for users, and reduce operating costs for utilities. As a self-install, behind-the-meter product, it sits beside the highest load appliances in a home, such as a window air conditioner or refrigerator, and plugs into a standard wall outlet to shift electricity use during peak hours.

NLR’s evaluation will examine how blipOne units perform across various building types and geographic regions, with Kishore conducting case studies to identify where the technology delivers the greatest benefit.

Chance Cobb, cofounder and CEO of Blip, said:

Blip units charge when electricity is cheapest and automatically discharge during peak hours—typically in the early evening—helping users save money while easing strain on the grid,

With energy arbitrage, Blip estimates its battery could save end users—currently homeowners and renters—up to $300 annually on electric bills. With NLR’s support, the company is examining how those savings scale when devices are deployed not just in individual residences but also across multifamily buildings and commercial properties.

Kishore said,

The value proposition would be less pronounced if Blip Energy was focused only on single-family residential homes

“Instead, they want to include the commercial buildings market, where the pattern is more predictable. If you combine multiple rooms, the overall impact is much more significant than one single-family home.”

Distributed fleets of Blip units could reduce peak demand for commercial or apartment building owners who can then lower utility costs, pass savings on to tenants, and boost their property’s value and appeal. Especially in older buildings and dense urban areas, which are hardest to engage and retrofit, dynamic control of consumer-side demand is helpful for an overworked grid and the operators that manage it.

Cobb said,

The challenge is that energy demand is rising faster than grid expansion,

“Instead of building costly new generation, utilities are now turning to demand-side solutions: flexible tools, like blipOne, that help lower and shift energy use to balance the grid more efficiently.”

Blip aims to work alongside key customers and partners, including utilities, grid operators, demand aggregators, and building owners, to position its product as more than a consumer smart home gadget: It is a virtual power plant of connected devices, capable of relieving stress from the local grid when demand is higher than supply.

With Kishore’s help on the calculations, the company’s next phase will quantify the value of blipOne’s functionality and identify which customers are best suited for its deployment—key steps for scaling their prototype into a commercial product.

Scope of IN2

Upon entering the IN2 program, Blip was connected with Kishore as principal investigator, given his background in building energy management, energy storage, and early-stage research—areas that align directly with Blip’s next steps for commercialization. 

Kishore said,

Our goal through the IN2 project is to quantify the benefits of the technology both in numbers and dollars: how long these batteries can power devices and what the overall savings will be,

“We want to understand those benefits across different settings: a small, midsize, or large hotel; a multifamily apartment building; or even a hospital. The impact can vary depending on the building type, number of rooms, devices being powered, and the climate or city.”

As part of the analysis, the NLR team will model how blipOne batteries perform in real buildings, considering factors like weather, occupancy, and utility rates by region. In New York, for example, they are analyzing time-of-use rates and utility programs for multiuse buildings and hotels to estimate bill savings from shifting energy use.

NLR will also measure the performance of the battery, such as how efficiently it charges and discharges, how quickly it responds, and how much energy it can store and return over time. The goal is a battery that provides up to 2.5 kilowatt-hours of energy when it is needed most, plus backup power in case of outages.

This techno-economic analysis provides a third-party, science-based backbone that will show where Blip’s technology delivers the greatest impact, while flagging potential issues early to guide strategic decisions for its launch. Cobb said Kishore’s “thought leadership” has been instrumental in helping move Blip from technology to application.

Cobb said,

My expertise in grid systems isn’t as deep in the specific areas where the NLR team excels,

“Ravi’s insights have challenged some of our assumptions and been invaluable in helping us clarify where Blip delivers the most value and how we structure incentives across key customer groups in the value chain.”

NLR’s validation also strengthens market confidence. As the company prepares for UL certification—the global stamp of approval for electronics safety and quality—Cobb said the laboratory’s expertise and the IN2 program’s support have been indispensable

The laboratory, he said, “is a highly respected thought leader in the energy space,” an unbiased third party that “brings tremendous credibility to our work.”

That credibility matters. For every $1 invested by Wells Fargo, IN2 portfolio companies raise more than $121 in follow-on funding, underscoring the impact of NLR-guided early-stage support and IN2’s role in helping energy innovations reach the market.

READ the latest Batteries News shaping the battery market

NLR and Blip Energy Collaborate on Smart Home Battery System, source

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The infra/STRUCTURE Summit 2025, held recently at The Wynn in Las Vegas on October 15-16, brought together industry leaders from Innovorg and Syntax to discuss the intersection of business strategy and technological innovation.

This infra/STRUCTURE Summit 2025 session spotlighted pivotal discussions on how organizations are shifting their models, developing AI capabilities, and managing talent for sustainable growth. Understanding these insights is crucial for infrastructure professionals aiming to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Key Voices and Perspectives

The session was led by prominent platform innovator, Elya McCleave, CEO of Innovorg, a strategic leader passionate about integrating business and technology, and whose company is at the forefront of digital transformation. Additionally, Christian Primeau, CEO of Syntax, shared insights on leadership and the importance of curiosity and continuous education, drawing from its experience with product engagement and strategic positioning. Together, they emphasized the significance of a clear strategy, identity, and skill management in driving growth.

Throughout the discussion, McCleave underscored the importance of leveraging mergers and acquisitions for talent addition, citing Innovorg’s efforts in developing over 700 AI agents through employee training programs.

“This initiative illustrates the ongoing shift from a data center-centric model to an ecosystem-focused approach,” said McCleave, “which has drastically reduced data center revenue from 90% to less than 1%.”

They also highlighted the importance of strategic market exploration, exploring talent sourcing in Korea and Argentina, and fostering employee mobility through programs like “global tourism.”

Major Takeaways and Their Relevance

Speaking extensively about the connection between business and technology integration, McCleave emphasized that success depends on a clear strategy, strong identity, and skill management.

“Leaders are focusing on defining clear identities, strategies, and service models that create sustainable value,” said McCleave. “The commitment to upskilling over 3,000 employees in AI and automation reflects a proactive approach to future-proofing the workforce. Whereas, the bottom-up model of AI agent development demonstrates empowering employees to innovate directly.”

The shift away from traditional data centers toward a broader ecosystem model signifies a fundamental change in infrastructure operations. This evolution enhances agility and trust management across multi-cloud environments.

“Exploring global markets and flexible work arrangements indicate a strategic move to attract and retain top talent,” said McCleave. “Programs allowing employees to work remotely from diverse locations reinforce this commitment.”

Primeau contributed perspectives on leadership and engagement, emphasizing curiosity and lifelong learning as key elements of effective leadership.

“I encourage integrating personal experiences and storytelling into leadership development to strengthen connection and authenticity,” said Primeau. “Managing an extensive portfolio of applications across multiple clouds requires sophistication, trust, and strategic orchestration,” he said. “This is an essential focus area for modern infrastructure teams.”

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

These insights from the infra/STRUCTURE Summit 2025 demonstrate that innovation, strategic talent management, and technological agility are pivotal for infrastructure success. As organizations look to the future, embracing these trends will not only drive growth but also ensure resilience in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Infra/STRUCTURE 2026: Save the date

Join industry leaders and pioneers to explore new horizons in infrastructure innovation. To tune in live, receive all presentations, gain access to C-level executives, investors and/or industry-leading research, save the date for infra/STRUCTURE 2026. It will be held October 7-8, 2026, at The Wynn Las Vegas. Pre-Registration for next year’s event is now open, so visit www.infrastructuresummit.io to learn more.

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ZincFive^® has closed out 2025 with major industry recognition, earning top honors in the 2025 Power Technology Excellence Awards across four categories: Innovation, Product Launch, Safety, and Environmental Excellence. Powered by GlobalData’s business intelligence, the awards celebrate companies pushing the global power sector forward, and this year’s results underscore ZincFive’s accelerating leadership.

The wins reflect the company’s momentum as demand for high-power, low-impact energy storage solutions continues to intensify. With nearly 2 gigawatts of nickel-zinc (NiZn) systems deployed or contracted worldwide, ZincFive is helping operators meet the explosive requirements of AI-driven data centers while strengthening resilience and reducing environmental impact.

At the center of this progress is ZincFive’s Immediate Power Solutions portfolio, which blends patented NiZn chemistry with intelligent system-level engineering. These systems deliver millisecond-level responsiveness to dynamic loads and operate reliably at higher temperatures, reducing cooling requirements and improving overall efficiency. The award-winning BC 2 AI UPS Battery Cabinet extends this approach even further, providing fast-load support for GPU-intensive AI applications and traditional outage protection in a single compact system. By consolidating functions that once required multiple layers of equipment, it frees valuable white space and simplifies power architecture.

ZincFive’s wins also reinforce the company’s long-standing commitment to safety and sustainability. NiZn technology is inherently safe, built from abundant, recyclable materials and provides lifetime greenhouse gas emissions that are 25 to 50 percent lower than traditional lead-acid and lithium-ion options. This aligns with growing industry expectations for cleaner, more responsible power infrastructure.

These latest honors join a growing list of accolades, including recent recognition on TIME’s 2025 World’s and America’s Top GreenTech Companies lists, the 2024 Edison Award™, CleanTech Breakthrough’s 2024 Overall Innovation of the Year, and more, signaling a defining moment for ZincFive as it continues to set new benchmarks in mission-critical power.

To learn more, reach the full release here.

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As artificial intelligence accelerates across global data centers, conversations often focus on compute, power density, and next-generation infrastructure. But according to Nabeel Mahmood, Strategic Advisor at ZincFive and Brandon Smith, Vice President of Global Sales and Product at ZincFive, the most crucial element of AI scalability isn’t hardware. It’s people.

Moderated by Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations, this webinar uncovered why the AI workforce, not compute, is the true limitation and what must change for sustainable growth.

People Are the Real Bottleneck in AI Scalability

Mahmood explained that scaling AI isn’t just a matter of adding more servers or GPUs. It requires practitioners who understand data pipelines, model governance, operational resiliency, and infrastructure design. Without skilled talent, organizations face operational risks despite abundant compute. Smith highlighted that AI and machine learning job postings have increased significantly, noting a recent figure showing a 450 percent rise, far outpacing available expertise.

Technical Silos Are Creating a New Skills Crisis

The discussion emphasized a growing gap across disciplines. Electrical, mechanical, IT, and data science teams frequently operate in isolation despite the interdependent nature of modern AI data centers. This fragmentation leads to delays, inefficiencies, and architectures unable to handle today’s dynamic workloads. Smith described the shift from traditional “white space versus black space” to today’s “blended gray space”, where cross-functional knowledge is essential. Mahmood added that the inability to transfer knowledge horizontally and vertically across teams is a major obstacle to scaling AI systems.

Energy Innovation Is Essential for AI Expansion

AI’s spiking, unpredictable workloads challenge a grid that was never designed for ultra-dense compute. Mahmood and Smith both pointed to advanced energy storage solutions, including ZincFive’s high-power nickel-zinc technology, as the key to unlocking performance. These innovations smooth electrical spikes, maximize usable capacity, and support emerging off-grid compute models that reduce dependence on constrained utilities.

Preparing the Future AI Workforce

Both speakers agreed that organizations must treat talent as core infrastructure. That means forecasting future skills, investing in upskilling programs, partnering with universities, and fostering environments where engineers can innovate across disciplines. As Smith noted, the strongest teams of tomorrow will be adaptive, coachable, and ready to evolve alongside rapidly changing AI infrastructure demands.

Watch the webinar below:

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As AI adoption accelerates worldwide, power infrastructure has become one of the biggest constraints for data center growth. ZincFive, a global leader in nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery technologies, has taken a major step in meeting this challenge with the close of an oversubscribed $30 million Series F funding round. The investment brings total capital raised to $254 million since 2016 and will enable rapid expansion in manufacturing and commercial scale.

Backed by leading climate and industrial investors including Helios Climate Ventures, Climate Investment (CI), Japan Energy Fund, General Ventures, and Clear Creek Investments, ZincFive has already deployed or contracted nearly 2 GW of nickel-zinc backup cabinets across the global data center sector. This milestone reflects both the maturity of its technology and the confidence of hyperscalers and operators seeking safe, sustainable power alternatives.

The funding announcement follows the launch of BC 2 AI, the first nickel-zinc UPS battery cabinet engineered for AI-driven data centers and their dynamic power requirements. With zero thermal-runaway risk, AI load support, and a 96 percent recyclable design, BC 2 AI demonstrates ZincFive’s commitment to continuous improvement from core chemistry to full system architecture.

A Sustainable, Proven Alternative

ZincFive’s patented NiZn chemistry provides high power density, inherent safety, minimal maintenance requirements, and an industry-leading environmental footprint compared to lithium-ion and lead-acid systems. With nearly a decade of proven field performance and expanding OEM partnerships, ZincFive continues to advance its role in next-generation, AI-ready power architectures.

With AI infrastructure driving one of the largest build cycles in modern history, ZincFive’s Series F funding marks a pivotal moment. The company is now positioned to scale production, deepen its commercial reach, and power the safe, sustainable data center ecosystems required for the AI era.

To read the full press release, visit here.

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Aureon, a trusted provider of connectivity, managed IT, staffing and consulting services, and contact center solutions, has been recognized in the 2025 Best of the West Awards, earning top honors for Best CEO, Best Customer Experience, Best Internet Provider, and Best Technology Group.

Hosted annually by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, the Best of the West Awards celebrate the people and organizations making a positive impact in the community. Winners are chosen through community voting, reflecting the strong local trust Aureon continues to build across Iowa.

Recognizing Leadership and Service Excellence

President and CEO George O’Neal credited this achievement to the dedication to everyone at Aureon. From IT specialists to the contact center team, every individual helps deliver technology and service that clients rely on. These honors reflect not just business success, but a strong reputation as a valued community partner.

With more than 40 years of experience, Aureon delivers technology and communication solutions that help organizations stay connected and competitive. The company’s 60,000-mile fiber network, managed IT expertise, and customer service operations provide a strong foundation for businesses to operate with confidence and efficiency.

Building a Stronger and More Connected Iowa

This recognition reinforces Aureon’s leadership in Iowa’s technology sector and highlights its continued commitment to service excellence, innovation, and community partnership. Through ongoing investment in infrastructure, technology, and talent, Aureon supports the growth of businesses throughout the state and contributes to a more connected region.

From its headquarters in West Des Moines, Aureon delivers scalable solutions that combine advanced technology with a personal touch. The company remains focused on empowering local businesses, strengthening digital infrastructure, and continuing to make a meaningful impact across the communities it serves.

To read the full press release, please click here.

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Duos Edge AI, Inc., a provider of adaptive, modular, and scalable Edge Data Center solutions, has joined the Nomad Futurist Foundation as an Inspiration Sponsor. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to advancing education, awareness, and leadership development within the digital infrastructure and edge technology sectors.

“At Duos Edge AI, we believe that education and access to technology are the foundation for innovation,” said Doug Recker, President of Duos and Founder of Duos Edge AI. “Part of our mission has been to expand that access and partnering with the Nomad Futurist Foundation allows us to help inspire the next generation and equip them with the knowledge and tools to shape the future.”

The Nomad Futurist Foundation is a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals from all backgrounds to explore and thrive in the digital future. As an Inspiration Sponsor, Duos Edge AI will support initiatives that help nurture the next generation of technology leaders through programs centered on digital infrastructure, AI, and edge computing.

Through this collaboration, Duos Edge AI and the Nomad Futurist Foundation will co-develop educational programs, community outreach initiatives, and awareness campaigns designed to broaden access to opportunities across the global technology landscape.

“We are thrilled to welcome Duos Edge AI as an Inspiration Partner,” said Nabeel Mahmood, Co-Founder of the Nomad Futurist Foundation. “Their commitment to innovation and education aligns perfectly with our mission to empower future leaders in the digital infrastructure space. Together, we can help more people discover and thrive in the careers that will define our digital future.”

The partnership reinforces both organizations’ dedication to creating a more inclusive and forward-looking digital ecosystem by connecting innovation, education, and opportunity.

To learn more about Duos Edge AI, visit www.duosedge.ai.

To learn more about the Nomad Futurist Foundation, visit nomadfuturist.org.

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Amazon’s Chief Executive, Andy Jassy, recently told investors that the company could significantly increase its sales if it had more data centers. Jassy explained that electricity is critical to the company’s success, and that “the single biggest constraint is power.”

It’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is driving this need for more power, propelling computing demand to levels not seen since the advent of cloud computing. Training foundation models, deploying inference at scale, and supporting AI-powered applications require massive levels of compute, storage, and power capacity that have never been experienced. However, the task of scaling data centers creates a range of structural challenges, including power availability, supply chain fragility, security, and geographic constraints.

Power as the Ultimate Bottleneck

One of the primary challenges for building data centers is power. These data centers require megawatts of power delivered to racks designed for densities exceeding 50 kilowatts per square meter. Securing this kind of power can be difficult, with interconnection queues for new generation and transmission projects often extending over a decade.

Gas power plants may not be the solution. These kinds of energy plants, which have not already contracted equipment, are unlikely to be available until the 2030s. In addition to the negative environmental impacts that can agitate communities, there’s a fear that investments in gas-fired infrastructure could become “stranded” as the world transitions to cleaner energy sources. And yet, renewable energy build-outs can be constrained by transmission bottlenecks and land availability.

This conundrum posed by gas power and renewable energy sources highlights a problem between the current speed of AI workloads, which tend to occur within six-month time frames, and the multi-year timelines of energy infrastructure. This mismatch highlights how power availability is becoming a significant constraint in the AI era.

Supply Chain Fragility

Supply chains are the next most significant challenge after power. Delays in infrastructure components, such as transformers, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, switchgear, generators, and cooling distribution units, are stalling and complicating projects. According to Deloitte, 65% of companies identified supply chain disruptions as a significant issue for data center build-outs.

Critical equipment now carries 12–18-month lead times, and global logistics remain susceptible to geopolitical instability. Trade restrictions, material shortages, and regional conflicts all impact procurement schedules, creating challenges for developers as they strive to align construction timelines with delivery schedules. With speed to market being the key to competitiveness, a one-year delay in equipment delivery could result in a significant and potentially fatal lag. The ability to pre-plan procurement, diversify suppliers, and stage modular components is quickly becoming a competitive differentiator.

Security and Reliability Pressures

With AI playing a critical role in economic and national competitiveness, security becomes an all-important concern. Sixty-four percent of data center executives surveyed by Deloitte ranked security as one of the biggest challenges. Vulnerabilities in AI data centers pose not only a threat to business profitability but also impact the healthcare, finance, and national defense sectors.

Modern operators must think about resilience in layered terms: physical hardening, advanced cyber protection, and compliance adherence, all while delivering at hyperscale speed. Building secure, resilient AI centers is no longer just an IT issue; it’s a national infrastructure imperative.

Spatial and Infrastructure Constraints

Geography presents the next biggest hurdle. Appropriate locations that have accessibility to load centers, available land, and access to water for cooling are not easy to find. Reliable power delivery is hindered by space limitations that make colocating data centers next to transmission infrastructure a challenging task. As for legacy infrastructure, it fails to meet the rack densities or dynamic load profiles required by modern AI. This inability forces operators to weigh the costs of retrofits against the benefits of greenfield development.

The Timeline Paradox

Traditional data center builds typically take 18 to 24 months. However, AI technology is evolving much more quickly. Model architectures and hardware accelerators change every six months. By the time a facility comes online, its design assumptions may already be outdated in relation to the latest AI requirements.

This paradox is forcing developers to reimagine delivery, turning to modular builds, pre-fabricated components, and “power-first” design strategies that bring capacity online in phases. The goal is no longer a perfect data center, but one that can evolve in lockstep with AI’s breakneck pace.

Conclusion

Industry leaders are reimagining procurement to ensure that critical components can be delivered earlier; they’re also diversifying supplier bases to lessen geopolitical risk and adopting modular construction to speed up deployment. Some organizations are partnering with utilities to co-plan grid upgrades, and others are exploring on-site generation and storage to bypass interconnection queues.

Treating supply chain resilience as a competitive differentiator is the ticket to a prosperous future for AI infrastructure. Organizations that can strike a balance between speed and reliability will keep pace with AI innovation.

The AI revolution is redesigning the structure of the digital economy. The challenges, ranging from strained power grids and fragile supply chains to evolving security demands and spatial constraints, are significant. Organizations that successfully navigate these challenges will set the standard for resilient digital infrastructure in the decades to come.

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About the Author

Scott Embley is an Associate at hi-tequity, supporting sales operations, business development, and client relationships to drive company growth. He manages the full sales cycle, identifies new opportunities through market research, and ensures client success through proactive communication. Scott holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Management from Liberty University, where he graduated summa cum laude.

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