Battery in/formation: Modalities of energy in transition

This article explores how the energy transition is reconfiguring knowledge practices that mediate the relationship between energy and capitalist valuation. It argues that batteries should be understood not only as storage technologies but as information devices that translate intermittent renewable flows into commodifiable forms of energy. Through three case studies – of a virtual battery, Bitcoin-as-battery, and a grid storage battery – the paper identifies three modalities of energy: account, waste, and stock. Each exemplifies how valuation practices (accounting, evaluation, valorisation) abstract energy from its material conditions and render it exchangeable within markets. Batteries thus operate as black-boxes in which planetary energies are re-articulated as economic objects, sustaining the commodification of renewables. At the same time, these modalities disclose possibilities for reorienting energy valuation beyond extractive logics. By situating batteries at the intersection of energy and information, the article highlights how the transition to renewables is also a transformation of the knowledge practices that govern energy’s circulation.