Projections for the global energy storage market are extremely bullish, with one estimate suggesting that the market will double six times between 2016 and 2030. Such growth would put it at approximately 125,000 megawatts (MW - for comparison's sake, the Texas market is just about 80,000 megawatts of generating capacity) and 305,000 megawatt-hours. That represents an awfully large number of batteries out there in the near future, releasing and absorbing energy as needed by the grid and providing critical services both in front of and behind the meter. A battery without smarts isn't worth too much - enter Athena However a battery by itself, while it may involve somewhat complex chemistry, is still a relatively dumb building block. It's what you do with it – telling that battery when to charge and discharge, at what rate, and how far up or down to go - that matters.