Green Giants – Episode 49

Wes Ashworth (03:16)

Yeah, it’s super fascinating. It’s been fun to look at that and watch your journey through it. And I know so currently you’re leading a joint venture with roots in both Taiwan and Pennsylvania. What’s the origin story of EticaAG and how did the collaboration really come to life?

Matthew Ward (03:33)

Sure, no it’s a very interesting story on that one. The joint venture it really started just by a person that knew AGI in the US and also knew the battery company, Etica Battery over in Taiwan, and just goes, geez, yeah.

This Taiwan company has this fantastic battery tech. You really need to talk to these people. And it started with the conversation. with the two groups getting to know each other and seeing, well, AGI can bring you into the US market and has this incredible distribution system all set up, it just really paired very nicely.

Wes Ashworth (03:55)

Yeah, it’s a cool story. I love that sort of started with a conversation, I guess, and then led to a story. But I say, like, have a conversation. You never know. You never know what will come out of having a conversation. So I love that a lot. To touch on a little bit of what EticaAG is doing, introducing a nonflammable lithium battery system.

A bold claim in an industry that’s often marred by safety concerns. You see those news articles come out, and things like that about explosions and safety and batteries, and all this sort of stuff. Can you break down a little bit of just how your technology works and why it’s different?

Matthew Ward (04:39)

Yeah, sure can, could do that. It’s actually the solution’s pretty simple. Basically, we submerged the batteries in a bathtub of dielectric oil, and the oil is environmentally friendly and biodegradable, and completely encased the oil with the batteries with the oil. And so by doing that, if a battery cell goes into thermal runaway, the cell will heat up.

But it never gets to flame, that the dielectric oil just completely takes away that heat so that the surrounding cells don’t go into thermal runaway, don’t go into flame, and you don’t get that cascading effect that typically happens in that event, where the entire container, batteries can catch on fire. Doesn’t happen with our product.

Wes Ashworth (05:15)

Yeah. And you said the approach borrows from over 100 years of transformer technology, which I thought was really cool. It’s like not some novel thing that people are like, I don’t know about that, it hasn’t been around long enough. You’re like, yeah, it’s really banked in 100 years of technology and education, things like that. I guess why hasn’t this been done before in batteries, and what unlocked it now?

Matthew Ward (05:40)

Well, the solution itself is simple, like we talked about, but figuring it out has been incredibly difficult. Etica and their team of engineers spent years and years designing and testing and redesigning to get it just right, which was what we had. So on that part, it’s really just the time, expense, and resources to put into solving this problem.

Wes Ashworth (05:46)

Yeah, absolutely. And talk to me about it. And I always think about, well, why doesn’t everybody do it, right? So, how do you respond to those who say your solution has trade-offs? Maybe it’s higher cost or lower energy density despite the fire safety advantage.

Matthew Ward (06:17)

Well, as far as higher cost and low energy density, I’d say they’re right. It’s as simple as that. As far as the liquid itself, does takes up a lot more space. So that reduces our energy density, and there’s extra cost. But what it comes down to is that our battery tech really is best suited for applications where a project is close to a populated area, a building, a storage of volatile liquids, and areas where, under no circumstances, can a battery fire be allowed to happen. Now, we’re not the cheapest solution in the market, and there’s some fantastic tech out there already, but we do have a specific use case, I think.

Wes Ashworth (06:47)

Yeah, so as you said, the use case really is important, whether it’s by somewhere that is safety is a paramount concern, you know by a hospital or, by something, a chemical plant or, know, any number of things where that safety would be that much more important, then it does make sense. I guess that’s the point you’re making. And that does make a lot of sense. Thinking about sort of the biggest impact of this technology.

If you take it out, you’re probably seeing it now, but if you look long-term too, where do you see this technology making the biggest impact? Whether it’s is it utility scale, you know, are the residential applications, micro grids, all the above, I guess, expand on that a little bit.

Matthew Ward (07:31)

Sure, our technology itself really spans all those different markets, between utility all the way down to residential; it’s the same tech. Now there are huge opportunities and a gigantic demand in all of them. Where I see us excelling, we talked about, is just the no-flame, no-fire concern. We’re close to buildings.

So the C&I and microgrid area, I can see a huge use case for our product. But then again, on the utility scale, there’s a lot of pushback happening on utility projects. And our product and our battery can resolve that. So I sort of see it sort of like I’m all the above on that answer.

Wes Ashworth (08:07)

Yeah, absolutely. Nothing wrong with all the above. And as I mentioned, too, battery fires dominate headlines. You see those headlines pop up, and usually, there’s not a ton of context sometimes behind it, but those fires obviously are rare. But what’s the biggest misconception people have about battery safety? And I know you’ve probably touched on this a little bit, but how do you fully address it?

Matthew Ward (08:28)

No, I think the biggest misconception people have is that the industry is not concerned about fire safety. We are. These are complicated equipment that we’re using. And there are so many people every day trying to make our industry safer, from the standards and certification groups to the battery manufacturers like us, EticaAG. But the reality is that the problem of increasing energy consumption is not going away. Actually, it’s growing quicker and you need energy storage as a solution for it.

Wes Ashworth (08:57)

Absolutely. Thinking about battery storage as a whole, is it truly scalable today? What are the common misunderstandings about customization, standardization, and deployment at scale?

Matthew Ward (09:09)

Sure, battery storage, it really originated with very bespoke installations, very customized. And what I’ve seen in the industry is that the standardization is coming through, and that’s allowing us to do huge projects in the hundreds of megawatt hours and larger. So when I see that, we’ve hit scale. And what’s happened too is that by hitting scale and by getting standardized solutions, we’re doing these things better, more efficiently, and less expensively.

Wes Ashworth (09:19)

Yeah, no, agreed completely. And it’s great to see the industry get there and then start to take on that next tier of scaling and really take it that way. Thinking about the bigger energy picture. So you described energy. The energy industry has been just motoring along fine, you know, until recent disruptive changes. What are the most misunderstood challenges facing the grid today? Where does storage fit in from your perspective?

Matthew Ward (10:02)

Sure, you know, the energy industry has been very steady, very consistent for years and decades, and such, very reliable, dependable, and such. But what’s been happening is just the electrification of the economy with EVs, with data centers coming in line, just putting gigantic stresses on the power grid that really wasn’t set up for that type of demand, and that demand is growing so quickly. So, putting out a new substation or building a new power plant doesn’t happen in a day.

So the demand is far outstripping the ability to add new supply. So the only way you can do this is now we start looking at when the electricity is used in the daytime, it’s used in the day, and at night time not so much. So there’s the opportunity to do more with the same amount of generation. So that’s where battery storage comes into play.

Wes Ashworth (10:54)

Yeah. And I want you to expand on that a little bit further, too, just the demand is exploding. Think some parts of some things you mentioned, AI, electrification, data centers, EVs, kind of the whole gauntlet. You also have reliability concerns with weather events. We’ve seen the ice storms in Texas. We’ve seen fires in California. There’s a lot of that that’s happening. And we’ve talked about this. So are we truly in an energy expansion moment rather than just a transition, and I’d love to hear just your full thoughts on that and where your head’s at.

Matthew Ward (11:24)

Yeah, I think that’s another one of those all the above answers. But the energy expansion, that’s been going on now for the last 10, 20 years, very heavily. And it’s not slowing down, especially with the new innovations in AI technology. As far as everything else, EV charging and what we’re doing, it all leads to rather than having a large single grid, breaking that grid down to where you can make it into microgrids. And so now we can balance these loads off a lot more smoothly. It made economic sense to completely put in power plants and have long transmission lines. It was the least expensive way to go.

But it’s not really flexible for how our economy has changed and how the use of electricity has changed. Microgrids really fill that solution.

Wes Ashworth (12:10)

Yeah, no, I agree wholeheartedly, and obviously, safety is a paramount concern when that comes into play, and why your product has so much value as well too, as that continues to scale and grow. Thinking about just what you’re doing currently and how that shakes out. So you’re investing heavily in US manufacturing, a new facility in Pennsylvania. What does that mean for jobs, supply chain resilience, and scaling up production?

Matthew Ward (12:34)

Sure, absolutely. It just makes sense for us to have a factory in the US where such a huge market exists. We’re closer to our customers.

And it’s easier just for access, access to our plant and facility, and such. Our facility over in Taiwan is keeping busy and such like and producing batteries as we need them. And as we get more and more demand for the product, we now have two factories that can make the batteries, not just one.

For locating in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania is a great area, obviously known for the coal mines and the steel mills and such, and those days have changed, but the incredibly resilient workforce remains. Just, you know, fantastic people, highly skilled, so for us it’s really a premium location for us to be.

Wes Ashworth (13:23)

Yeah. And thinking about that location. So, based in Pennsylvania, not the usual coastal startup scene. We chatted about that, but how does being rooted in that former coal and steel region just shape your team, your values, your mission? Tell us a little bit about that.

Matthew Ward (13:38)

Absolutely, you know the one big thing is that, you know, we have people that can come on the job and just about day one, start working and already know it. So, you know, as far as I’m trying to retrain the existing workforce and such, they’re already trained. Pennsylvania itself has been fantastic with their support, with their support and such, to come into the area and just really, you know, work with a local economy that wants us there.

Wes Ashworth (14:04)

Yeah, absolutely. And thinking about the joint venture. So, what role does Taiwan continue to play in your operations? And how do you talk about international trade partnerships in a time of geopolitical sensitivity? I mean, you see tariffs and everything else pop up on the news headlines every single day. talk to us about that a little bit.

Matthew Ward (14:22)

Sure, Taiwan was our first factory, and that’s where all of our engineering tech resides and such. So all the R&D that’s been going on will continue and will stay there. We still have that manufacturing capacity, so for orders in that part of the world, it’s just easier to supply right out of there. But then again, our US plant can always help with the extra capacity, and vice versa.

You know, we talk about as far as what’s happening right now. Obviously, the big items are what’s going on with the tariffs. Changes are happening almost on a daily basis. A lot of disruption in the market. But what I see is that the overriding need for battery storage has not gone away. So, where I see these tariffs are going to be more something that’s transitory, it’s not going to have an impact on the industry itself.

Wes Ashworth (15:11)

Yeah, no, I agree. And I would say that demand continues to increase as well, too. So you kind of have to figure it out. There’s got to be solutions and a path forward. Absolutely. Thinking about your team a little bit more, and something I always like to try to draw out, just what does innovation look like inside your team? How do you cultivate a culture that’s moving at the pace of a transforming industry? We talked about the demand increasing. It’s obviously very fast-paced. So what does that look like inside your team?

Matthew Ward (15:37)

Well, on the team, it’s important as far as I see us as a startup.

So, you know, my background, a lot of startup background, but also working for larger corporations. So coming into a manufacturing company, keeping that startup mentality where we have to be quick and nimble, and you know, if we find something that we don’t like how it’s working, that we can pivot quickly, and not be on just a slow boat that’s very difficult to navigate and turn. It can’t be that way anymore in this day and age. So I think that’s one of the big items I’m bringing to our culture: everyone’s voice matters. I want to hear every single idea. There isn’t one central spot for all the thinking to happen is but we’re going to make this thing work together as a team.

Wes Ashworth (16:21)

Yeah, thinking about your impressive background, what you’ve done prior to this moment, you have helped really grow and scale companies. What did you bring with you? You know, when you walked in the door at EticaAG, what are some of those tried and true principles in terms of just how to scale, how to grow, how to operate in a startup-type environment, and achieve success?

Matthew Ward (16:42)

Well, coming in, I really understood the issues that were out there for the developers that are on the scene, trying to do these installations. I understood what the end customer is looking for in the C&I space. And then the challenges that the utility companies are running into every day, and trying to fit in new projects. So I brought that into a manufacturing environment. That’s not typical that you’d see every day. Yeah, it really is. And so it makes it to where, how we’re looking to get in the market, the customers that we’re talking to, the type of conversations that we have with our customers is definitely, I think, very forward and unique in the industry.

Wes Ashworth (17:23)

Yeah, absolutely. Are there some key traits you think about hiring in that environment, whether a startup, you know, obviously, you’re in a manufacturing-dense area as well too in Pennsylvania. And we talked about some of those really old industries, but you’ve got this sort of new innovative culture and startup and growing, like how do you balance that? And what are some traits, maybe you look for in the right people to have on your team?

Matthew Ward (17:47)

Yeah, I’d say the big things that I really look for are persistence and patience. ⁓ It’s a never-give-up type of attitude. It’s a can-do, not a can-don’t. All those different phrases and such. But really, when it comes down to it, especially in an industry like we’re in that’s changing almost daily, you have to be able to be nimble and quick.

Wes Ashworth (17:52)

Yeah, without a doubt. Thinking about the future. So let’s say the rest of this year and into 2026 and beyond. What excites you most about where battery storage is headed, and what are some things that are on your mind?

Matthew Ward (18:22)

Sure, mean, obviously, the exciting part is just the overall opportunity. The US is really getting into its own strides in battery manufacturing. We have a ton of battery cell manufacturers that will be coming online for LFP end of this year and then all through next year, and really just taking this industry where it can go and how it can really help everyone out. Very excited about that.

Wes Ashworth (18:42)

Yeah, absolutely. Thinking about, again, future stuff too, what are your biggest hopes and maybe honest concerns for the renewable energy industry over the next five years? And if you want to go further and kind of like, yeah, here’s what I think about it, maybe some solutions to that as well.

Matthew Ward (18:57)

Well, absolutely. I mean, the one big thing that always just floors me is just how fast the technology changes. It wasn’t just a few years ago that we were with solar panels that were 350 watts and such like that. And now we’re at ones that are almost a kilowatt. So, just about a few years. So the speed of change of the technology obviously is always something we have to keep an eye on a watch.

In battery storage, really, the elements that we’re dealing with. Batteries have been pretty much doing what they’ve been doing for a very long time. So we can make adjustments to them, make them safer, like what we’re doing too. But that technology and advancement have been a little bit slower than solar panels. But the power density keeps increasing very quickly. And so we have to go through and make sure that we do all of our testing, everything is right, get our certifications properly, and such, and keep moving it forward.

Wes Ashworth (19:53)

Yeah, no, agree completely. You know, and there’s a lot of noise and hype in the battery space and a lot more, as you said, sort of maybe it was further along or not as far along as solar. Then you recent years, you’re seeing a lot of investment. You’re seeing a lot of companies pop up. You’re seeing a lot of attention in that space. Anything you feel like the industry tends to overhype in the battery storage space, and then maybe the flip side of that, like what’s not getting enough attention?

Matthew Ward (20:20)

Sure, I mean, I think the way that I’ve really gone into this is that everything has to be profitable. We want sustainability, we want the renewable clean tech, but we’re a for-profit business. And I think a lot of the previous hype has really been on business models that weren’t necessarily ever going to be profitable. So we’ve had, I’d say, a large adjustment in the last two years because of that.

We did achieve some fantastic technology and some innovations, and now we’re trying to make those things to get them out there in the economy and do it and be profitable doing it.

Wes Ashworth (20:54)
Yeah, absolutely. And thinking about just more and more companies are entering the energy storage space. How do you just define and protect EticaAG’s edge in the market?

Matthew Ward (21:03)
Well, obviously, our patents that we have done and such are a large portion of that. We’re protecting our IP. The other item is that we are an established company. Both are JV owners, with 20-plus years in their respective industries. So this is not a brand new company that’s popped up overnight. And those type of companies, which always happens in every industry. It’s something that we’ll just have to deal with. But I think that stability and performance are going to be the key.

Wes Ashworth (21:32)
Yeah, absolutely. Curious, a couple more questions, too, as we get going here. So when you talk to people, maybe outside the energy industry, we have a lot of listeners inside the energy industry. Certainly, there are some who are just curious and tune in. So it could be investors, local officials, or even friends, you know, as you’re around the dinner table. What’s the one thing they commonly misunderstand about batteries or the grid? And then what are some of those things you have to kind of inform them and help coach them on?

Matthew Ward (21:57)

Well, I would probably answer that one is that, especially when I talk to my family, know, maybe talking about energy and batteries is not the most exciting thing for them. I myself love talking about this. I get very excited about what’s out there for battery technology, but I think that they would rather talk about what’s latest in news or what’s going on with a show, but battery technology is probably not the first pick. ⁓

But what I’d say to other folks is that your phones and your computers and your laptops and your e-bikes and such, those all do great, but how well are they gonna work if there’s no electricity for those? And I said, all of a sudden, all those great fun toys and tools and equipment and such like that are just paperweights.

So by having energy and having resilient energy, definitely supplied and supported by batteries, that’s gonna keep you in to be able to watch your next Netflix show or whatever it is. So that seems to get people’s attention who are not really in the industry. But when we talk about folks that are, the financial groups and then the different AHJs and such like that. know the battery safety, and how we’re preventing a fire from ever happening.

Big discussion topic, we’ve had so many utility groups and different organizations reach out to us just wanting to learn more because it’s such a huge need. With the financial groups, in talking to them, knowing that there’s not gonna be a disaster, sorry, more of a thermal event, we should say, on a project, reduces the risk for them and makes it a safer project, not only for customer safety but also financial safety. So we have allowed those discussions too.

Wes Ashworth (23:45)

Yeah, no, that’s good stuff. And it’s one of those, like, nobody thinks about it right until it doesn’t work. But when you really look at it, batteries are at the center of almost everything. I say that a lot, like it all connects back to batteries. Batteries and storage are really at the heart of almost everything that we’re doing from an energy perspective going forward. If you fast forward 10 years, you go further out in the future, maybe even further, 20 years plus or 10 years plus.

What’s one change you think in the way we use, store, or think about energy that you think maybe most people aren’t expecting, that just maybe a bold prediction?

Matthew Ward (24:25)

Bold prediction. What mean in 10 years we’ll all have flying cars and live on Mars, or are we talking more about how we’re going to pay our bills prediction? So, you know, I think the advances in energy obviously are always tempered with safety. So, you know, in other industries you can make huge leaps in technology innovations, but in the energy industry it’s always been tempered by making sure it’s safe for the end user.

So I see over the next 10 years, we’re gonna have some more technologies come out, we’ll get better efficiencies, costs will keep on dropping, and there’ll be more technologies for use cases. So there may be a better long-term storage technology than lithium, or there might be a smaller battery. But I think that all in all, those technologies will be pretty consistent with what we have today.

You know what I obviously you know over we’ll start looking at 20 to 30 years ahead. You know what they’re trying to do with fusion research and such that may one day have a gigantic implication on how we use energy, we’ll always need energy storage.

Wes Ashworth (25:34)

Yeah, without a doubt. And we mentioned sort of the use cases or applications where immersion-cooled batteries really make the most sense. Do you see a future where immersion cold batteries become the standard, or will it always be based on specific applications and use cases?

Matthew Ward (25:51)

Well, of course, since we’re the manufacturer, we want it to be a standard. And I think that it’s something that there is a lot to say about it becoming a required item. It’s safer, it runs more efficiently, it’s just a better product.

Will that be the case? I think that a lot of people will actually probably make it their standard internally. So you might see utilities and organizations decide that this is a standard that they want to follow. I think that we’ll always have other options available for people that maybe it’s more the pricing or whatever, not. But I think that will become a standard in people’s minds and what they expect.

Wes Ashworth (26:28)

Yeah, I could definitely see that. In thinking about just storage, the challenges, anything else, is there anything else that I guess is on your mind today, and things that you’re thinking about with the industry, things holding the industry back? If you were able to kind of wave a magic wand and create some solutions, are there some of the most pressing things you think would really help us push the industry forward?

Matthew Ward (26:49)

Well, like I said, these US-based battery cell manufacturers coming online are going to be a game changer. Right now, the batteries have been pretty controlled from one source, at least on the LFP batteries. So, making those now in the US and such will radically change, I feel, the market. think the adoption of the tech will be that much higher. I think the time to market will be much quicker. So, you know, what’ll happen is that we’re gonna have product available much, much quicker than what the utility companies can do for interconnectional approval. And now, probably, you know, it’s currently a problem right now. It’s gotten much worse, but I think it’s something that we all have to know that the utility companies, they’re really trying their best they can to keep the grid safe and adding on all this extra. Generating equipment and storage equipment are very complex. So I think that’s where, if we can find ways to help the utility companies, that would help the whole industry.

Wes Ashworth (27:47)

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Maybe with some advice too. So you built and led companies through market shifts and through uncertainty and things of that nature. Thinking about it now, obviously, I think the industry is moving ahead without a doubt. That demand is not going anywhere. It’s continuing to grow. But there are challenges, obviously, as we look at it. What’s one piece of advice you’d offer from your past experiences, and kind of going through maybe some of these uncertain times, and what should we be focused on today?

Matthew Ward (28:15)

Yeah, try and focus on that. Over time, everything does seem to smooth out, but what we’re dealing with right now is not.

Usual times, not really times that people have seen, at least in my generation, if not more. And there are a lot of different forces going on that are really beyond the control of the everyday person. So what we can do is just do what we can to protect our family and to go earn a living and to keep on knowing that we need to improve ourselves, and by making ourselves better, we can make our society better.

Wes Ashworth (28:48)

Yeah, absolutely. Great points there. Thinking about again, sort of predicting the future and if you’re all said and done, 10, 20, 30 years in the future, whatever it might ends up being, and you look back at your time with EticaAG what would need to be true for you to feel like you really moved the needle on energy storage and you really feel like, hey, I did what I set out to do?

Matthew Ward (29:09)

Well, I could say that I like to see an EticaAG battery in everyone’s home and in every building across the world. That might be a bit of a growth item. Or I could go on that I would love to see an EticaAG battery on the future moon base or on Mars. I do tend to place very high goals on trying to achieve, and it’s all about the process of achieving those goals.

Wes Ashworth (29:14)

Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Love that bold vision. I guess so, so when you think about just the overall future of the grid, where do you see the biggest gap between what’s needed and what’s currently being built? know, there are obviously microgrids becoming more norm. You’re seeing a lot of those things pop up, but what’s the biggest gap still that’s needed?

Matthew Ward (29:52)

I think the biggest gap is just looking into how the grid’s operating and such. When we have all these loads that are up and down all over the place, and then we have different supplies, whether it’s a power plant or a solar plant or even battery storage that are being added on.

Coordinating all those to where we get rid of all the peaks and all the valleys and try and get a nice, smooth, consistent grid, that’s always going to be the challenge.

Wes Ashworth (30:20)

Yeah, absolutely. And let’s say anybody who wants to be a part of the clean energy transition, what’s the one thing you’d tell them they can do today to start making a difference?

Matthew Ward (30:30)

Well, that’s a great question. I’d say apply to EticaAG, because we are looking for people who want to make a difference. That’s how a company is built, and that’s how a company flourishes.

Wes Ashworth (30:34)

Yeah, absolutely. And again, just thinking about what’s coming, what’s ahead, what gives you the most hope right now, whether in your work at EticaAG or just in the energy sector as a whole.

Matthew Ward (30:51)

Well, that’s a great question, too. I the last 10 years or so, as far as clean tech and just changing the paradigm in the energy industry has been really more pushing the industry and pushing the demand with a lot of the tax credits and subsidies that have happened and such. And what’s happened is that I’m seeing that the industry itself is now taking off. So the demand being created by the electrification and the demand being created by the AI computing and such is now, instead of pushing, us pushing the industry, now that demand is pulling the industry forward. So that gives me great hope that we’ll continue growing this whole economy.

Wes Ashworth (31:31)

Yeah, I want to touch on just a few more just like life lessons learned and learning from your wisdom and experience. So if you could go back and give yourself advice at the start of your energy journey, and maybe even before that, it could be your career as a whole. I guess what would you say to your younger self?

Matthew Ward (31:46)

I would have told my younger self to get more education early. My further education happened later in life when I had a family, and I had children, and night school, and such, and working full-time jobs, and then working part-time jobs and doing school. Also balance of the family. Difficult way to approach this. So I would have told my younger self to stay at school.

Wes Ashworth (31:50)

Yeah, there you go. Get it done sooner before all those other layers come into play. No question. Thinking about your journey in energy and throughout your career, was there ever a mistake or misstep that taught you something essential about this space, specifically your business, just kind of help shape where you ended up, or just guided you a bit?

Matthew Ward (32:14)

There are mistakes, unfortunately plenty of mistakes. I think the biggest one is assuming what the customer wants. I’ve run into that particular mistake, and that really helped me start listening better to where a customer doesn’t want your solution, and you can’t sell them a solution if they don’t want it. It’s not gonna ever happen.

Listening better and finding out what the customer’s concerns are and what the issue is, and then rolling in with that education on the product that we have to see if we can make a match.

Wes Ashworth (33:04)

Yeah, I love that. It’s simple, but just so wise and so much to that, and that will drive your success, obviously going forward. Touching on too just EticaAG, we’ve touched on a little bit. We didn’t get too deep in the weeds. But if there was just something you wish everybody knew about EticaAG, the technology, what you guys are doing, what would it be? What would the key message be?

Matthew Ward (33:23)

A key message is that we make a safe, non-flammable lithium battery energy storage system, and everyone needs one.

Wes Ashworth (33:33)

Absolutely, it’s simple and effective, and powerful. It’s great. Just overall, this whole conversation is kind of like we’re going through it. There’s one thing that you hope listeners take away. They listen and kind of think about it later. What would it be? What would be the one key takeaway?

Matthew Ward (33:46)

Well, I think it would be curiosity and wanting to learn more about battery technology itself, not just for the people that are in the industry, but people outside the industry. It’s something that permeates through all of our lives, and it’s really the way that we all can move things forward in the direction that we want to go.

Wes Ashworth (34:04)

Yeah, absolutely. And this next one, I’m sure you have this conversation a bit, you as you’re going out and looking on the commercial side, but if you had five minutes with an energy CEO or another CEO or investor who’s still on the fence, maybe about prioritizing safety in storage/ battery, what would you say to them?

Matthew Ward (34:20)

Well, I’d give them 10 reasons why they need to buy from EticaAG, but as far as on talking to them about, like I said, asking them what their problems are as far as with their energy usage and such, whether it’s costs, whether it’s safety, what’s driving their needs and desires for the particular product that we might be able to supply to them. So like I said, ask the customer and ask that particular person.

What’s the solution they’re looking for, and then go and educate them on the solution that we have.

Wes Ashworth (34:49)

Yeah, no, I love that. Thinking too, like just outside of what EticaAG does, I’m just curious from a leader in the space, is there any innovation outside of your own that you’re keeping a close eye on in the energy space, or one that’s got your attention?

Matthew Ward (35:04)

It really is actually close to heart is I’ve been watching a lot of the advances that are happening with the space industry ⁓ and what’s happening with how they’re handling energy usage. There are a number of very, very interesting different projects going on about energy capture and energy storage for the low Earth orbit. I’ve been watching that very closely.

Wes Ashworth (35:09)

Yeah, anything that’s like piqued your interest or things that you’ve seen developments or what have you that have really caught your attention?

Matthew Ward (35:33)

Sure, there’s one group where they’re about the reuse of existing satellites.

So the typical plan is that a satellite has a certain usage. Its solar panels stop working as good, the batteries degrade, and such. At that point, those satellites are discarded and let to float around forever or come back to earth and burn up and just be wasted. So I’ve been tracking a particular group that goes and has a way to go and retool, re-equip those satellites, move them to higher orbits. And I find that very fascinating.

Wes Ashworth (35:38)

Yeah, absolutely. We’ll kind of wrap up on some just overall just broad questions on the energy market and where everything’s headed as well too. And we talked a bit about that. But if this moment in energy is a chapter, right, what do you think the next chapter looks like? What’s on the horizon? What’s the next chapter if we close this one?

Matthew Ward (36:24)

The next chapter on energy usage is just going to be a continuation of being more efficient with our energy usage. The technology, like I said, keeps on advancing. So we can do more with less energy to the point where we can get to having fusion plants, to where we can really have an unlimited supply of energy. That’s what I see the path going to. Is that the next couple of years? I don’t think so. But is that in our lifetime? Probably so.

Wes Ashworth (36:54)

Yeah, no, I like that. In thinking about just storage, again, broader questions become more integrated into utility-scale projects. What are the biggest infrastructure and interconnection hurdles that you’re seeing? I know that’s obviously a hot topic that comes up a lot, ties into it, but what are you seeing from your perspective?

Matthew Ward (37:13)

From our perspective, one thing I see is that there’s just a lot of deferred maintenance in the energy grid that needs to be taken care of to handle all these new assets coming on there. Transmission lines and distribution lines really never planned to be bi-directional. So there’s new tech that has to be added and upgrades that have to be added. Then obviously then it’s also just the process of putting these new assets onto the grid and the interconnection queue study portion. That’s something that we need to put a lot more focus, a lot more resources on to help out the engineers, these utility companies, so that they can do their job properly and safely.

Wes Ashworth (37:51)

Yeah, absolutely. And we probably touched on this a little bit, but anything that you see from your perspective that we’re still getting wrong in the clean energy conversation, and even you look at that evolving over the last five, 10 years, I think it’s gotten better and better and better in terms of that conversation. But anything we’re still missing, whether it’s tech, messaging, or deployment?

Matthew Ward (38:10)

I think one thing that we’re getting wrong is that trying to force a solution onto the public sometimes is not the best way to go. We have a demand out there that needs to be handled with energy and such like that, but we have to do a lot better job explaining to the public why our solution is needed, what it’s going to mean, and how they can get engaged in making it happen.

Wes Ashworth (38:34)

Yeah, absolutely. A couple of final questions here. So somebody that is considering a career in the industry, whether it’s fresh out of school, fresh out of trade school, whatever that might be, or an industry switcher, somebody that’s in a completely different industry, that’s kind of like, hey, I want to want to get involved. What advice, what encouragement would you offer them, and sort of why somebody would want to get involved?

Matthew Ward (38:56)

Absolutely, mean right now it’s just an amazing amount of information that’s available on the internet at really no cost. So the first thing I’d say to anyone is educate yourself in the industry and what really is what you find interesting, and such. And then at that part, reach out. There are a ton of opportunities in our space. We’re always looking for people to help move this forward, and just don’t give up. Be persistent.

Wes Ashworth (39:21)

Yeah, love that. Kind of final, just closing out any last pieces of advice, words of wisdom, things you wish people knew, things you didn’t get to talk about. The floor is yours. I’ll open it up. Anything else you want to share?

Matthew Ward (39:34)

Well, thanks. Well, first of all, I wanted to thank you very much for inviting me to your show. The big thing I tell the people is that innovation and development of technology really is a spur for our economy. The U.S. is positioned just to be, you know, fantastic at this, and really, you know, some of the technology has gotten away from the country that we need to pull back here. So our big effort of building this factory number two in the U.S. is to bring some of that technology back here to the U.S., and what we’re trying to do.

Wes Ashworth (40:04)

Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been extremely enjoyable. Thank you so much, Matt, for coming on the show. And I guess the pleasure is mine to have you here. So with that, we’ll wrap up our conversation with Matt Ward, president of EticaAG. From his days in nuclear engineering to leading one of the most safety-forward battery innovations in the market, Matt’s journey is a powerful example of how deep expertise and bold thinking can reshape the industry. If you’re following the energy storage space or looking to understand where the grid is headed,

EticaAG’s approach to safe, scalable batteries is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Matt, again, as I said, thanks for coming on, sharing your story and insights. To our listeners, as always, thanks for tuning in to Green Giants, Titans of Renewable Energy. Be sure to subscribe, share this episode, and join us next time for more conversations with the leaders powering a cleaner, smarter future.