The German company Voltstorage, which claims to be the only developer and manufacturer of household solar storage systems using vanadium flow batteries, raised 6 million euros (US$7.1 million) in July.
Voltstorage claims that its reusable and non-flammable battery system can also achieve a long cycle life of charging and discharging without reducing the quality of components or electrolytes, and can become “a highly demanding ecological alternative to lithium technology.” Its battery system is called Voltage SMART, launched in 2018, output power is 1.5kW, capacity is 6.2kWh. The company’s founder, Jakob Bitner, declared at the time of the release that Voltstorage was “the first company to automate the production process of redox flow battery cells”, so that it could produce high-quality batteries at a “preferential price”. Quality battery pack battery. The company also claims that, compared with similar lithium-ion storage, the carbon dioxide emissions in its system production have been reduced by approximately 37%.
Although actual deployment data has not yet begun to erode the existing major market share of lithium-ion batteries, redox flow batteries using vanadium electrolyte around the grid and larger commercial scales have aroused great interest and discussion around the world . At the same time, for home use, only Redflow in Australia uses zinc bromide electrolyte chemistry instead of vanadium, and is reportedly targeting the home storage market-as well as commercial and industrial applications. However, although Redflow has provided its modular ZBM brand system to larger residential users, Redflow discontinued production of 10kWh products specifically for residential spaces in May 2017, with its main focus on other market segments. Julian Jansen, an industry analyst at IHS Markit, told Energy-Storage.news when production was discontinued, “It seems unlikely that flow batteries will succeed in becoming lithium-ion-based in the residential market outside of very specific areas. Viable competitive options for systems. Niche applications.”
Existing investors in the Munich-based start-up Voltstorage invested again, including the family investment company Korys, Bayer Capital, a subsidiary of the Bavarian Development Bank, and EIT InnoEnergy, an accelerator investor in European sustainable energy and related innovations.
Bo Normark, executive officer of EIT InnoEnergy’s industrial strategy, told Energy-Storage.news this week that the organization believes that energy storage has the greatest potential in four areas: lithium ion, flow battery, supercapacitor and hydrogen. According to Normark, a veteran in the power supply and smart grid field, each of these storage technologies can complement each other, serving different applications and providing different durations. EIT InnoEnergy also provides support for many large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants, including startups Verkor and Northvolt, and the planned 110GWh European plant between the two plants.
Related to this, Redflow said earlier this month that it would add the function of a virtual power plant to its flow battery. The company has partnered with CarbonTRACK, an energy management system (EMS) provider. Customers will be able to manage and optimize the use of Redflow units through CarbonTRACK’s intelligent control algorithm.
Initially, the two of them were looking for opportunities in the South African market, where the unreliable power supply meant that customers with large residential, commercial or off-site sites could benefit from the technology mix. CarbonTRACK’s EMS can support a variety of applications, including demand response, frequency regulation, virtual transactions and grid resilience. Redflow said that its strong circulation and frequent dispatch functions of flow batteries will be the “biggest partner” to obtain from EMS Maximum benefit.
Redflow’s plug-and-play energy storage system is based on its robust zinc-bromine flow battery, which can transfer and manage large amounts of energy. Our technology complements Redflow’s 24/7 ability to self-manage, protect and monitor batteries,” said Spiros Livadaras, Managing Director of CarbonTRACK.
Redflow recently signed a duplicate agreement to supply flow batteries to a telecommunications provider in New Zealand, and also sold the system to the South African telecommunications market, and also talked about its role in providing rural residents with a certain degree of energy independence and security. Sexual ability. Australia’s motherland.
Read the expert team of CENELEST, a joint venture between the Fraunhofer Institute of Chemical Technology and the University of New South Wales, and first published a technical article on redox flow batteries in our “PV Tech Power” magazine. Renewable energy storage”.
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Post time: Aug-12-2020