People Behind the Projects: Greg Fyffe

Meet Greg Fyffe, Team Leader Storage and Infrastructure at Shell Energy and a key figure in our Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) team. Below, Greg dives into how his interest in technology and engineering led him to a deep passion for the role of batteries in the energy transition and what makes Shell Energy’s BESS model so unique – plus more.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a petroleum engineer by training. I started my career running around on oil rigs in exotic locales including Venezuela and Libya, before moving into a local oil and gas company focusing on financial and economic analysis. From there, I found my way into the start-up space, where I stayed for 15 years wearing a variety of leadership hats, including as part of the team that grew a Sydney University spin-off into a global, category leading technology disrupter. I was fortunate to spend a lot of time in different countries in my time scaling start-ups, which I’m grateful for. From there, I found my way into the renewable energy sector, which had been an ambition for me for some time because I wanted to be part of the energy transition, finally ending up here in the battery space.

What made you interested in a career in batteries?

Over the course of my career, I noticed how climate change and the challenges of the energy transition were becoming more and more prevalent as one of the key themes of our time. As a father, I decided I wanted to be on the right side of history in applying my skillset to address these issues.

The energy transition is also such a massive challenge for engineering and technology, which aligns with my personal and professional interests in these areas. With batteries specifically being a relatively new technology to the market, I can see there’s a bright future ahead, considering how integral they will be in solving some of the challenges of the energy transition. When the opportunity came up to join Shell Energy in the battery space, I thought ‘this is perfect, let’s do it.’

Why do you think batteries are important to the energy transition?

The reality is without batteries, it’s difficult for the renewables roll-out to go any further at pace, because of intermittency and firming capacity issues. Batteries are the future; they’re absolutely integral to the energy transition.

Batteries provide stability to the energy grid by providing ‘firming’ capacity and balancing out some of the intermittency issues intrinsic to renewable generation. Basically, when the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing, batteries are the only proven non-fossil fuel or nuclear solution currently available that can keep the lights on.

Of course, this is on top of the number of financial benefits that installing a battery can offer large businesses in Australia.

Why is Shell Energy’s BESS model unique?

What makes us particularly unique is our commercial model and offering a product that’s fully Shell Energy-funded, so the customer doesn’t have to take any commercial risk while getting a guaranteed return. We also offer a number of revenue streams businesses can unlock through installing a battery.

We provide vertically integrated solutions in terms of the engineering and construction of customer batteries, all managed in-house by our expert team. This includes looking after the operation and maintenance once the battery is up and running.

One other differentiator is that we’re using our proprietary software to optimise how individual batteries are operated to maximise financial returns.

What would you say to businesses who are hesitant about investing in batteries?

Now is a golden time to be investing in a battery, as the costs associated with installation have come down quite dramatically, while the ability to monetise them and unlock different revenue streams has opened up, especially during this period when energy market volatility is high. Particularly for the BESS model we offer, everything is Shell Energy-funded, which greatly reduces the commercial risk for businesses. We’re putting our own capital behind it because we know how much value batteries will provide as part of Australia’s energy future, and we have the expertise to extract maximum value.

The way I see it, batteries are essentially the Swiss Army Knives of the energy transition with an integral role to play. Now is the perfect time for businesses to be ahead of their peers in this new phase of energy, with no financial risk and the opportunity for new revenue streams.