UniEnergy signs commercialization agreement for PNNL-developed vanadium redox flow battery

2 October 2012

UniEnergy Technologies LLC has signed a license agreement with Battelle to further develop and commercialize a vanadium redox flow battery developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that holds promise for storing large amounts of renewable energy and providing greater stability to the energy grid. (Earlier post.)

First developed in the 1970s, redox flow batteries are one type of storage technology that has shown the ability to meet the challenge of integrating energy from variable and intermittent sources such as wind and solar power onto the electricity grid while maintaining grid stability. However, these batteries have been limited in their ability to work well in a wide range of temperatures, their relatively high cost, and their energy density.

With funding from the Energy Department’s Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, researchers at PNNL have made significant progress in improving the performance of redox flow technology.

Redox flow batteries store electrical energy in two tanks of electrolytes, which are then pumped through a reactor to produce energy. The PNNL-developed vanadium electrolytes incorporate two novel approaches to overcome the limitations of previous generations of redox flow batteries. The result is significantly improved operating range, higher energy density and lower cost for vanadium redox flow batteries.

UniEnergy Technologies, Inc. (UET), is a privately-held clean energy company, founded in Washington state and based in Mukilteo, Wash. UET’s mission is to scale up and commercialize new generation redox flow batteries and other advanced electricity storage technologies through wide collaboration with partners that include leading industries, associations and research institutions in related fields as well as government bodies.