I (the marketing guy) nominated CEO Tim Müller, and today, after a long wait, the time has come: Tim is answering questions and we are learning more about the person behind the CEO.

Tim, interviews aren’t exactly your forte. Are you still looking forward to the exchange? As a company executive, you are surely often asked about your position on certain topics.

Hello Philipp, I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s always an opportunity to answer questions and convey a point of view. Maybe I’ll learn something in the process.

Let’s start with an important, topical issue: the monitoring report on the energy transition in Germany and the recommendations for action derived from it. Did this trigger anything in you?

It’s actually a far-reaching topic. The basic message in the report is that battery storage with a connection capacity of 800 MW is planned by 2035, while gas-fired power plants with a capacity of 30 GW are also planned. This raises the question of whether the authors of the study are up to date. On the one hand, we are planning a massive expansion of renewables, but we have no idea how we want to store them.

The massive curtailments of renewable generation plants that are already taking place—in some cases over months—are severe, and it is not clear how we should solve this problem economically and justify it. As a PV-only operator, you will be curtailed virtually permanently for months starting in June. This is certainly suboptimal from an economic perspective. I understand that the authors of the study place great emphasis on the ramp-up of hydrogen. But for day-to-day short-term storage/daily storage, battery storage is unbeatable.

From the perspective of the sustainability and independence of our electricity system, this is difficult to understand, and not only for battery storage manufacturers. Do you see any chance that the tide will turn again here?

The federal government plans to invest billions of euros in the expansion of the power grids; in a study, grid operators talk of a total investment requirement of more than €460 billion by 2045. On the other hand, as mentioned above, it is planning a storage capacity that represents an investment volume of a fraction of that amount, which is almost negligible in comparison. So we have made it our strategy (sarcasm alert) to build a perfect power grid that can transport renewable electricity anywhere at any time, even though we don’t need the full amount all the time. Much more important would be electricity storage facilities that temporarily store remaining reserves locally.

This would also save us a significant portion of the grid expansion costs. If we invest even half of the funds earmarked for grid expansion in electricity storage, we will at least have resolved the non-seasonal fluctuations/asynchronies between production and consumption and will need to carry out significantly fewer fossil fuel redispatch measures. This makes more economic sense than importing liquefied natural gas from the US.

A small side note: Our TRICERA grid booster supports grid operators by buffering generation peaks, thereby making better use of the grid for more renewable energies—with less line expansion, fewer gas-fired power plants, and lower gas consumption. Flexible and modular, it can be used exactly where it is needed.

The market for battery storage systems is highly competitive, and low-cost solutions from Asia are flooding the market. How can TRICERA survive in this highly competitive environment from Germany and Europe?

I myself come from the PV world, where we have experienced various market development phases. There, too, we had times when Chinese manufacturers entered the German market with very low prices. This greatly increased / stimulated demand for plant manufacturers like us. In the battery market, the Energy Industry Act also stipulates a grid fee exemption for storage systems that were commissioned by 2029. So I expect a highly dynamic boom phase until 2029 and (if the German government does not extend this deadline) rapid market consolidation in the years that follow.

TRICERA’s goal is therefore clear: to become an important, perhaps even dominant player in battery power plant construction over the next three years and to continue developing steadily in this direction.

Is there a highlight from your time at TRICERA so far? What are you particularly proud of?

Yes, actually. Two things that are related. I am extremely proud that the highlight of my career so far has happened during my time at TRICERA. We were the first to build a highly competent team here, which means that expertise and decision-making are not concentrated in the hands of a few managers, but are spread across a much broader base and far more shoulders than I have seen in previous companies. I consider the TRICERA team to be the most competent in Germany in the field of battery power plant construction.

Building on this, we now make all strategic decisions at TRICERA not only at the managing director level, but in a much larger management circle. This conscious assumption of responsibility by long-standing employees is my personal highlight.

You have been working with co-CEO Lars Fallant for more than 15 years now, and together you founded TRICERA energy over four years ago. What do you appreciate about him, and what do you think he appreciates about you?

Lars and I are very different. That’s why we complement each other perfectly. Lars is much more operationally focused than I am, for example. But we are united by an unshakeable optimism and a healthy pragmatism. And we have learned that we can rely on each other 100%. That’s a good basis for working together productively.

Perhaps a question from the staff would be appropriate here: What is your purely moral stance on opportunism, and how does economic reality ultimately change your theoretical view? What opportunities can arise from this, and what dangers does it entail?

I consider opportunism to be acceptable in detail if it serves the overarching goal. For example, we are a rather small company that necessarily has to be opportunistic in the market (e.g., when sourcing equipment) and cannot always follow its own preferences. Because, of course, we have to operate economically.

In any case, we always make a decisive contribution to the energy transition and generate a great deal of knowledge at our local site. Last but not least, we also offer a very fulfilling working environment for our employees. For me, these are the overarching goals.

As CTO, or Chief Technical Officer, you deal extensively with the technical details and intricacies of battery storage. Are there any trends that are likely to prevail in the long term?

We are seeing ever greater integration of components and ever greater vertical integration among material suppliers. Whereas we used to buy modules and integrate them into racks ourselves, we now purchase complete DC blocks (fully equipped battery containers). These will soon be replaced by so-called AC containers, which also have the inverter integrated. On the other hand, there are still niches where, for example, battery modules have to be integrated directly.

We are also noticing that “best-of” solutions are becoming established in many areas. Unfortunately, however, we do not see any accompanying standardization, which means that standardization and interchangeability on the customer or integrator side is very limited. Unfortunately, the EU Battery Regulation has not been helpful in this regard either. It is therefore difficult to derive standardized products from these clearly visible trends that would make integration easier.

A management position comes with a lot of responsibility for the company and its employees. How do you deal with this pressure and, just as importantly, what do you do to balance out your intense workday?

The pressure has been reduced many times over since the management team was formed as described above. This, and the ability to tune things out, help me cope with the pressure. I rarely take issues home with me anymore.

Finally, who do you nominate for the next interview and why?

One of the questions definitely came from Florian Wendler. We like to discuss important questions about life. I would naturally be interested to hear his views on certain issues and how he positions himself in his answers.