Jan 28 2014
WattJoule Corporation, a developer of next-generation flow battery energy storage systems, has entered into an intellectual property licensing agreement with Battelle.
This agreement enables the full commercialization of patent pending, flow battery electrolyte technology developed over the last several years by the research team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The research was funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Energy Storage Program under the leadership of Dr. Imre Gyuk.
"The redox flow battery is well-suited for storing intermittent, renewable energy on the electric grid. The technology can help balance supply and demand, prevent disruptions and meet the grid's varying load requirements," said Imre Gyuk, energy storage program manager at DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, which supported the licensed technology's development and currently funds much of PNNL's energy storage research. "Successful commercialization of DOE-sponsored technology development, such as this, is vital for creating the grid of the future, and sustaining U.S. leadership in advanced technology," Gyuk added.
"The electrolyte technology developed by PNNL, in combination with our advanced high-power stack technology, give us a highly competitive flow battery platform," said Dr. H. Frank Gibbard, CEO and Founder of WattJoule. "This licensed technology is another important building block in our core IP strategy. Through licensing and in-house development we are working diligently to obtain all the core technology that will enable the commercialization of flow batteries."
"This technology provides two critical elements that are inadequate in current flow batteries," said Greg Cipriano, VP Business Development and Founder of WattJoule. "The first is a greater operating temperature range by 115%, thereby eliminating the need for expensive, complex system cooling. The second is our ability to store more energy in the liquid, termed energy density. This is improved by 100%. These combined changes significantly reduce volume, footprint and most importantly, cost."