Alex Beard betting on batteries for a green world: Reuters

Former Glencore executive, Alex Beard, told Reuters in an exclusive interview that he is raising funds to build a strategic battery sites portfolio across the United Kingdom to support the renewable energy industry.

In the interview, he said that Adaptogen Capital investment fund will build a storage with a capacity of at least 500 megawatts (MW) to power homes when grid supplies fall short.

"I have time for a second career in energy markets. It won't be oil and gas but it will be the transition away from carbon that will be most relevant for the next 25 years," he told Reuters.

As countries are becoming less dependent on fossil fuels, governments and companies are looking at how to make power grids more resilient.

"The current crisis gives you a taste of what we will be experiencing more and more often," said Beard, who is 54. "Batteries provide you with stability when the grid becomes unstable and are key enabling assets in the energy transition."

Beard said Adaptogen's 500 MW of storage will use lithium-ion battery technology which according to Reuters calculation will be sufficient to supply about 750,000 homes in the United Kingdom.