Berlin – September 07, 2026 -- EcoFlow, which has deployed more than 10 million devices to 5 million users worldwide, is pushing its consumer battery and software architecture into the commercial and enterprise energy market as European grid connection queues and price volatility squeeze corporate balance sheets.
The Economist Enterprise and EcoFlow released an executive panel titled 'Flexibility by Design: Energy Resilience for Business' ahead of IFA Berlin 2026, running September 4-8 at Messe Berlin. The session gathered regulators, grid operators and digital infrastructure executives to address grid bottlenecks and unpredictable energy costs facing European industry.
EcoFlow adapts consumer battery tech for business-scale energy management
Nick Chen, EcoFlow's chief strategy officer, said small and medium-sized enterprises face the same energy volatility and high costs as residential consumers. He said mass adoption of clean energy requires extreme simplicity, modular scalability and intelligent software automation, and that EcoFlow is transferring its proven consumer technology and software intelligence to give commercial operators tools to manage complex energy needs, cut operating expenses and secure power supply resilience.
The company's commercial pitch centers on modular hardware, automated dynamic tariff optimization and AI-driven software originally built for household energy storage systems.
Panelists span regulators, grid operators and data center infrastructure
The panel included Bram Claeys, secretary general of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER); James Matthys-Donnadieu, chief customer, markets and systems officer at Elia Group; and Eulalia Flo, vice president for emerging and growth markets Europe at Equinix. Phillip Cornell, senior advisor for energy and sustainability at Economist Enterprise, moderated the discussion.
Discussion flags negative wholesale pricing and grid connection queues as investment risks
Panelists examined how fluctuating energy prices, grid bottlenecks and periods of negative wholesale tariffs are reshaping corporate investment decisions across Europe. Topics also covered flexible connection agreements and demand-response mechanisms as immediate alternatives to long grid connection wait times, along with the role of distributed storage and solar assets in balancing transmission systems.
The session also addressed how current regulatory adjustments and technology deployments will shape European electricity market design and industrial competitiveness through 2030.
EcoFlow to showcase residential and commercial energy ecosystems at IFA Berlin
The full panel recording is available on demand through The Economist Events Portal. EcoFlow will present its latest residential and commercial energy ecosystems live at IFA Berlin 2026 in Hall 3.2.