The government of Queensland has committed to investing in a factory in the Australian state that will make flow batteries based on iron electrolyte technology.
Here’s news in brief from around the world in energy storage with liquid metal battery maker Ambri, a German government-funded sodium-ion initiative, and ESS Inc’s iron flow battery project at Amsterdam.
BASF is using NGK Insulators’ sodium sulfur batteries as its entry point into the energy market, with the German chemical company signing up as a sales partner to the Japanese manufacturer.
First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the first of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe learns what the flow battery industry faces in the fight for commercialisation.
ESS Inc, US manufacturer of a novel iron flow battery for stationary energy storage applications, has entered the German market via an agreement with investor, chemical company BASF.