Stash Energy Gains Power Through Energy Storage

It’s no secret that climate change is an important issue that deserves our attention, but sometimes, it can be hard to know how you can begin making changes to do your part. If you’re a heat pump owner, our portfolio company Stash Energy Inc. can help you get started.

Stash’s system allows users to store energy during non-peak periods and save up to 70 per cent on their utility bill. It works with conventional heat pumps, allowing users to specify when to switch from using grid energy to stored energy. That’s a win for both consumers and energy companies. In addition to helping people save money on their power bill, it helps utility providers make more efficient use of their generation capacity. In practice, this means consumers can store energy overnight when they need it less, and draw upon it during the peak times of 6-9 am and 5-7 pm, allowing for more even energy flow on power grids.

“Climate change is the single biggest issue facing our planet and the way we use our energy is the problem. Stash Energy has created a product to provide an easy way for people to take action today against that problem,” says Ray Fitzpatrick, our Director of Investments. “It’s a win for consumers, energy companies, and the environment.”

The way we see it, technology that helps us live cleaner, greener lifestyles (and save some cash while we’re at it) is only going to get more important. That’s why we recently partnered with our friends at Island Capital Partners in PEI to invest a total of $400,000 in Stash Energy Inc., with that amount shared equally between both partners.

“Island Capital Partners is excited to be providing continued support for Stash Energy with this follow-on investment. With a number of pilot programs anticipated with Canadian and international utilities, we remain confident in the value that Stash’s energy storage solutions bring to energy providers and their customers,” says Paul Lypaczewski, Partner at Island Capital.

Stash Energy was founded in 2017 by Jordan Kennie, Daniel Larson, and Erik Hatfield while studying Technology Management Entrepreneurship (TME) at the University of New Brunswick. While we knew of all three of them through the TME program, they really came onto our radar when they submitted a business plan to our Breakthru competition in 2017. At the time we saw the immense potential in the product, but their business plan needed some refinement and they didn’t make it into the final top five.  All of that said, we knew we could offer them a helping hand in getting them where they need to be on the road to commercialization.

This led us to make our first investment into the company in the fall of 2017, only five short months after working together. We’re now onto our third round of investing in the company, with $650,000 total to date.

“We’ve had really high hopes for this company and they haven’t disappointed us,” says Ray. “They’ve been doing some development recently in the European utilities market, where they have the climate and infrastructure in place that lends itself to Stash’s system. The company has huge growth potential in the global market.”

Since their beginning in 2017, Stash has pre-sold over 1,500 units and launched paid pilot projects with several Canadian companies. They’re now working with the University of Ottawa to develop a patented second generation of their product that can cool in addition to heat.

We like to use Stash as an excellent example of how we support entrepreneurs. Not everyone can win Breakthru – it’s a business plan competition – but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a solid product or idea. Outside of the competition we can work with companies to develop their plans and build a viable scalable business.

Stash plans to use their latest round for additional product development, testing, and market expansion.

“People all over the world are becoming more conscious about their energy use, and Stash is there to help our customers manage their energy consumption and save money,” says Jordan Kennie, Stash’s CEO. “We’re encouraged by the growth we’ve seen, and grateful to NBIF for supporting us since our early days.”