Becca Segel wants to fight climate change by trying to solve a storage-related challenge presently found with renewable energy. As she pursues her doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Segel — alongside her fellow co-founders at FlowCellutions — is creating a first-of-its-kind diagnostic device for a type of battery that’s proven promising for an energy grid powered by renewables. With this device, Segel is optimistic battery manufacturers and utility companies will become more convinced of a future in which the grid is powered by renewables.
I am the co-founder of FlowCellutions, a company committed to stopping climate change by improving renewable battery storage on the electric grid.
Renewable energy is the future of a clean energy grid, but it can only succeed if battery technology exists to store excess energy produced during very sunny or windy times, and release this energy during times of electricity need such as blackouts.
Redox flow batteries (RFB) are the best technology for grid energy storage because they are exceptionally economical. However, these batteries lack advanced diagnostic and energy management systems so their manufacturers can be more confident in the technology and operation of their systems and so that utility companies can trust their energy storage systems.
To meet this vision, I connected a talented team spanning both CMU and Pitt. With my team’s skill set of material science, electrochemistry, software and electrical engineering, we are developing the FlowCell — the first flow battery diagnostic device that will become the industry standard for RFB diagnostics and dramatically accelerate RFB market adoption.
Since I was young, I have been obsessed with orcas and their ocean habitat being quickly destroyed by human-driven climate change. Redox flow batteries are an economical solution to improving the reliability of renewable energy, thus decreasing the need for fossil fuel energy generation plants.
I believe entrepreneurship is the best way to push energy storage to the market quickly, which is why I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Pitt researching flow batteries and starting my company at the same time. My advisers, James McKone and Chris Wilmer, and I came up with the idea for a RFB testing device last year. Since then, my team and I have performed over 80 customer discovery interviews, created a business plan and won two pitch competitions totaling $35,000. We are currently prototyping our hardware and software, and looking for mentors with expertise in energy markets or utilities.
Becoming an entrepreneur has been the most thrilling time of my life because I am able to tackle the problem I am most passionate about while paired with a team equally as motivated. In five years, the founders (Maya Bhat, Priscilla Prem and I) will each have doctorates of chemical engineering, and we hope to have the first FlowCells in operation with commercial RFBs, along with a steady revenue stream from our breakthrough market of selling battery testing devices to research laboratories.
My team is unique not only because of our intellectually diverse skill set, but also because there are very few all-women-founded technology startups. I hope that our success will inspire future gender minority groups to pursue tech entrepreneurship.
ABOUT BECCA SEGEL
Title: Co-founder, FlowCellutions
Age: 24
Year company founded: 2021
What is your dream job? “CEO of FlowCellutions.”
