6 Questions with Dragonfly and Stryten Experts: The Future of Energy Resilience

What does the future energy supply chain look like in five years?  

Scott Childers:  

There will be a couple of emerging technologies that will start to surface for long-duration energy storage. We’ve been using lithium as the incumbent technology, which is not a great fit for long-duration, front-of-the-meter type applications, and I think that will change. As these new technologies, such as vanadium flow batteries, emerge on the front of the meter side, they will change how we perceive batteries in grid applications. We will see energy storage as an essential part of the energy ecosystem. There will be a point where solar or wind won’t be installed without connection to a long-duration energy storage system. If you want power, energy storage is a critical part of the solution that you must incorporate to ensure all the power generated is efficiently stored and used when needed. 

Dr. Vick Singh: 

The North American energy supply chain will undergo significant changes in the next five years, driven by policy shifts like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), technological advancements, and a push for domestic resilience. As large-scale investments take shape, we’ll see growth in downstream manufacturing and renewable energy deployment. 

Upstream, securing critical minerals will become a priority. This will require domestic extraction, partnerships with allied nations, and permitting reforms to reduce reliance on geopolitically unstable regions. Refining capacity will also be critical, as much of it currently exists outside North America. Onshoring these capabilities or partnering with aligned nations will strengthen supply chain security and sustainability. 

These efforts will position North America as a leader in advanced battery technologies and renewable energy systems, creating a cleaner and more resilient energy future. 

What types of materials are going to change how the energy landscape operates? Will we be repurposing old ones or creating new ones?  

Scott Childers: 

Stryten Energy is an industry leader backed by over a century of battery innovation and manufacturing expertise. We leverage that expertise as we expand into lithium and vanadium flow battery technologies. Other companies are doing the same, and whether it’s sodium ion or zinc bromine, the issues tend to be the same – the development cycle tends to be long. If a company is relatively young in the market, with a TRL level of three or four, you will probably remain in the laboratory space. A company that’s been around a while, with a strong TRL level seven, eight, or nine, such as vanadium flow batteries, can make an impact.  

Vanadium flow batteries have been around since the eighties. The Australians started developing early and putting it into commercial practice, and since then, other countries have followed their lead. Japan has it implemented at scale, Europe has several systems in place and running, and, of course, China has as well. The U.S. has been a little slow to adopt vanadium as a chemistry, but that’s not because it’s not mature or proven viable. It’s mainly a cost proposition. And so, we need to get past the scaling factor. We need to reduce the cost, and I think that’s exactly what we will see in the future.  

Dr. Vick Singh:  

It’s a combination of repurposing existing materials and developing new ones, with geography playing a significant role. Europe, for example, focuses on integrated supply chains due to limited mineral reserves, while North America leverages its abundant resources through extraction and recycling to build a more resilient supply chain. 

Recycling and reuse are critical as demand for materials like lithium and nickel grows. These practices not only address resource constraints but also reduce the environmental impact of mining, aligning with sustainability goals. 

Emerging materials are also gaining traction, driven by startups exploring innovative chemistries with smaller-scale investments, often under $50 million. However, large-scale investments remain focused on scaling up the extraction and processing of established materials to meet immediate energy transition needs. 

Over the next decade, balancing innovation with scaling existing resources will be key to creating a sustainable and adaptable energy supply chain. 

What is the practical approach to this growing energy demand from data centers as a result of AI?  

Scott Childers: 

I’m concerned that there won’t be a practical approach. The absolute thirst and growth rate of data centers and AI is exponential, and I don’t think any single battery technology will keep up with that energy demand. Tech companies are already partnering with nuclear plants or even purchasing nuclear facilities outright. In the meantime, as they work to get these big systems online, every technology you can imagine is working to help supply that space. And so, an emerging technology that can perform well is reasonably priced and has other benefits, such as safety and recyclability, will become the energy storage solution of choice in the data center/AI market.  

Dr. Vick Singh: 

The growing energy demand from AI-driven data centers can already be addressed with existing technologies like onsite generation and storage. The practical approach depends more on the ESG commitments and regulatory requirements set by data center builders. They will define the energy strategy based on their sustainability goals and access to renewable resources, guiding suppliers to meet those demands. 

What is the ‘earth’ part of the “Earth to Energy” conversation? 

Scott Childers: 

The ‘earth’ part of “Earth to Energy” is relatively straightforward. All our energy, in one way or another, comes from our environment. There is wind and solar, and then the rest comes from a material that we extract from the earth that has some kind of energy potential. If you don’t have access to those materials that you extract from the earth, then you don’t have access to energy.  

Carbon-based fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, come from the earth, but they are consumable. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Other materials, including lead, lithium, vanadium and other minerals, have this energy potential as well. We need to mine those materials to access the energy inside them.  

These minerals always keep their energy potential, but some are easier to recycle than others. For instance, lithium is less costly to extract new, so there’s an economic disadvantage to recycling lithium. Lead is extremely cost-effective to recycle, and so are vanadium, zinc and other minerals. We need to establish a sustainable domestic circular economy for all chemistries to continue repurposing the energy potential in those materials and maximize the utilization of what we’ve mined from the earth.  

What role will emerging tech play in the supply chain, and what role, if any, do legacy companies play or can play?  

Scott Childers: 

Legacy companies have much to offer, with a trained workforce, expertise in certain technologies, and laboratories that develop generational improvements for their products. And there are emerging technologies that we’re going to need as well. But there is another piece of emerging tech that’s not chemistry related. There is also the need for systems optimization. Looking at the bigger picture, thinking about all the pieces and how they fit together and, from a software, electronics and communication perspective, how we can get all the pieces to talk. We need to do it in an incredibly efficient way that uses many different distributed resources owned by many operators. That will give us the best practices going forward from all the players in the legacy and emerging tech field. 

Dr. Vick Singh:  

Emerging tech will drive innovation in the supply chain, while legacy companies can help accelerate scaling. For example, partnerships like Stryten Energy and Dragonfly Energy combine Stryten Energy’s decades of manufacturing expertise with Dragonfly’s innovation in newer lithium technology. Emerging technologies and new materials are still evolving, and the next 3-4 years will clarify scalable models influenced by shifting investor dynamics and risk tolerance. 

What are the real hurdles/ blockers, realistically? 

Scott Childers: 

One of the big hurdles is that there are simply not enough of these materials with energy potential domestically. This is one reason Stryten Energy focuses on the “Earth to Energy” model. We need more access. We need an environment where companies are motivated to go in and extract the material in a sustainable manner that is also mindful of the fact that they want to do it with technologies that are recyclable. Once you get that energy potential out of the ground, you can continue to reuse that potential in the material repeatedly.  

Another hurdle is that our focus has been so much on innovation that we have not moved enough into development. We have a lot of ideas and technologies, but at this point, we need to do more development. To me, that means picking three or four battery technologies in each application area, focusing on cost reductions and scaling, building the manufacturing plants, and getting the product out into the market so people can get to it and use it.