By Jeff Bennett of Startup Sac. Blog on StartupSac.
Ryan Barr is the co-founder and COO of RePurpose Energy, a Sacramento area cleantech startup that reuses electric vehicle batteries to store solar energy.
Ryan started his career as a management consultant for electric utilities in the midwest. Feeling disillusioned by their lack of urgency with respect to climate change, he decided to make a change and transitioned to grad school to study energy systems at UC Davis, focusing on how energy storage can allow society to operate electricity grids using a lot of renewable energy.
Along the way he met Professor Jae Wan Park, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Davis and learned of the extensive research on renewable energy systems that Park had been doing over the years. Park and his team were at the stage where they were ready to launch a product based on their research. Interests and timing were aligned, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I met up with Ryan to learn more about his story and the origin of RePurpose Energy. Check it out in the video or audio podcast below.
RePurpose Energy is currently transitioning from product demonstration phase to product launch phase. As part of their product launch phase they’re looking to partner with local businesses who have solar power installed, or are interested in solar power, to help them save more money by helping them store solar energy for use at night and using energy storage to reduce their peak power demands. If you have a business and you value reliable electricity and want to save more money on your electricity, reach out to them through their contact form on their website.
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