Team Experience
- Hands-on operation, management and dispatch of 150 MW battery storage (multiple chemistries)
- Consultant and engineering services that include technical design and financial analysis: +3 GW battery storage, +800 MW mechanical storage and +2 GW of solar and wind; over 160 projects to date
- Competitive procurement of +250 MW of battery energy storage systems across multiple vendors and EPC firms
- Successful application and management of $12M in utility grant projects
- Deployment of over 80 MW of grid scale energy storage systems integration work, bi-directional inverter development, 1,000 Vdc battery rack development, real time controls development work, commissioning, testing and repowering services
- Integration of 10+ different batteries chemistry brands across lithium-ion and lead acid; 5+ different utility-scale inverter makes and models
- All project sizes: behind-the-meter battery pilots up to 400MWh systems
- 30 years experience in embedded controls and industrial automation
Our Story
Fractal EMS™ was built by experienced operators for superior control, monitoring and fleet optimization.
Fractal EMS founders helped deploy the first battery storage projects in ERCOT, PJM and the Hawaiian Islands (coupled with solar and wind generation). This includes development experience with two prior control systems, the first deployed at the South Pole telescope over twelve years ago. We’ve been there to see the industry, technology and markets change and have accumulated a wealth of experience in installation, integration, commissioning, testing, O&M and even firefighting. Through storage operations we learned the advantages and disadvantages of control system design, functionality and usability. Fractal EMS represents a culmination of years of experience and a modern approach to energy storage controls. We already knew how to do controls, what was lacking, and we wanted to make something better for the industry with best in class functionality and deployment capability.
Meet the Founders
Daniel Crotzer. Daniel is a Navy nuclear engineer and MBA who specializes in using predictive analytics to create market advantages. Formerly Daniel was the Operations Center Manager at Xtreme Power. He directed the operation of 77 MW of energy storage and energy management systems across the world including the first energy storage projects in PJM and ERCOT. While at Xtreme Power, he led the creation of the first power trading platform using battery energy storage. Prior to Xtreme Power, Daniel completed his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a Surface Nuclear Propulsion Officer for the US Navy onboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73) and the USS Samuel B Roberts (FFG-58). Daniel has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the UT Austin. Daniel is regarded as an energy storage industry expert and provides technical and financial consulting to a range of clients ranging from small utilities to Fortune 500 companies with specialties in financial modeling and due diligence.
Judy McElroy, Chief Marketing Officer. McElroy is a chemist by trade with energy consultation services spanning over 3 Gigawatt of energy storage and hybrid generation projects. McElroy is the Chief Executive Officer at Fractal Energy Storage Consultants and has expanded Fractal’s reach into regulated, deregulated and emerging markets around the world supporting electric utilities and major developers transition into energy storage. McElroy has devoted major efforts towards creating utility education, awareness and policy support to enable energy storage technology planning and procurement. Prior to Fractal, McElroy was the Chief Marketing Officer for two energy storage companies. She is fluent in multiple programming languages with software development experience. McElroy also served nearly a decade in medicinal and livestock R&D while a Research Chemist at Zinpro Corporation and ZAN International.
Richard Jennings, Chief Technology Officer. Richard Jennings is an embedded systems developer with over 30 years of experience in scientific and industrial automation. In 2005 Richard took entrepreneurial leave from Sandia National Laboratories to form a consultancy focused on real-time and embedded control systems. Richard led software development for two utility scale energy storage companies and was directly involved in designing and deploying over 75MW of grid scale energy storage. Richard’s first energy storage system was in 2007 for the South Pole Telescope project with Xtreme Power Solutions qhwew he led the US software team, then later Younicos, before jumping out in 2016 to work on a distributed control system for energy storage. Richard is the co-author of “LabVIEW Graphical Programming’ (McGraw-Hill) and now leads a 5-person development team responsible for the Fractal EMS™ controls and software.
Nick Hughes, Vice President of Operations. Nick is the Vice President of Operations for Fractal Energy Storage Consultants and has provided over a Gigawatt of energy storage consultation, management and owner’s engineering services. Prior to Fractal, Nick served Younicos as Manager of Global Operations and Maintenance for six years where he led a team that managed monitoring and operations for >150 MW of battery storage. Nick managed all O&M activities for new and existing customer projects, designed custom preventative maintenance programs and provided operator training. Nick was also the Control Room Manager for Younicos for two years and responsible for remote monitoring, preventative and tactical response and data analytics and testing for up to 8 different sites rated above 135 MW. He would additionally travel to project sites to serve as Field Operations and assist local Maintenance Technicians with battery installation and commissioning. Nick served in the U.S. Navy for 6 years aboard the USS Rhode Island 740 as a Nuclear Electronics Technician. Nick holds a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior College in Nuclear Engineering Technology.