Mar 14 2014
Eos Energy Storage today announced plans to ramp up manufacturing with the support of a $1 million award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This funding follows recent announcement of Eos’s manufacturing partnership with Incodema—an Ithaca, NY-based manufacturer and full-service rapid prototyping company—to begin MW-scale production of the company’s safe, low-cost zinc hybrid cathode (ZnythTM) battery technology.
The NYSERDA award supports investment in equipment that will increase commercial production of this innovative technology.
“Inexpensive, highly commoditized, and readily scalable manufacturing processes have been ingrained in the design and development of our technology since day one,” said Eos President Steve Hellman. “Whereas battery manufacturing typically requires significant capital and scale to bring down cost, we can build a pilot manufacturing line for far less and achieve cost targets that make our battery technology competitive with incumbent solutions, such as gas peaking plants and copper wire.”
The $1 million NYSERDA award will also support performance and reliability testing of Eos’s ZnythTM battery technology at the BEST Test and Commercialization Center in Rochester, NY. Established as a partnership between DNV GL (formerly DNV KEMA)—a leading global energy consultancy and authority in testing, inspection and certification—and the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST), this state-of-the-art facility will accelerate commercialization of Eos’s 1MW/6MWh Aurora energy storage system.
“We’re excited to test Eos’s ZnythTM battery technology in our new lab,” said Jim DeJager, Director of the BEST Test and Commercialization Center. “With the knowledge of how best to manage distributed resources, such as storage, we’re helping grid owners and operators realize the most effective ways to integrate clean energy resources. Furthermore, by combining the impartiality and reliability of a KEMA certificate with proven commercialization services, we are providing a central hub for manufacturing, demonstration and deployment of innovative energy storage technologies.”
“NY-BEST congratulates Eos Energy Storage for securing this $1 million award from NYSERDA,” said Dr. William Acker, Executive Director of NY-BEST. “The partnership between Eos and Incodema, along with their planned use of the BEST Test and Commercialization Center, illustrate the energy storage ‘ecosystem’ that NY-BEST and New York State are facilitating here in New York. We look forward to working with Eos as they continue their success and further New York's role as a leader in energy storage.”
Eos is planning to test its Aurora energy storage system at a Con Edison facility in mid-2014. The project will demonstrate the value of distributed energy storage in reducing costs associated with construction of new generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure required to serve peak electricity demand.
Pilot testing of the technology with Con Edison sets the stage for additional demonstration projects with Eos’s other utility partners under the company’s Genesis program. They include NRG, American Electric Power, National Grid, GDF Suez, Enel and others. After closing its Series B capital raise in 2013 with NRG Ventures and Fisher Brothers as lead investors, Eos is now raising its Series C to support further scale-up of manufacturing and broader commercial availability of its products in 2016.