VFlowTech raises US $10 M for Vanadium-based battery LDES solutions
Singapore-based manufacturer of Vanadium-based redox flow batteries, VFlowTech, has raised US $10 million in a series A funding round, led by Japan-based venture capital (VC) firm Real Tech Holdings and others.
The company has said that it will use the funds to set-up a 200 MWh production line capacity and scale up the manufacturing of its 250 kWh modular vanadium-based long duration energy storage solutions. Expanding its market presence to Türkiye, the US, Japan and India with new partners is also on priority.
Further, VFlowTech also have plans to intensify research and development efforts to further improve its best-in-class technology, as well as increase system capacity and explore new markets with emerging demand for sustainable energy storage solutions.
"Advancements in renewable energy storage solutions will drive the acceleration of cleantech and help other industries come one step closer to meeting their sustainability goals, said Dr Avishek Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of VFlowTech.
"We are already seeing increased demand for our batteries in creating infrastructure for electric vehicle (EV) charging, peak shifting of renewables, grid services, gated communities, telecom towers, and for round-the-clock renewable energy integration. We are excited to bring our offerings into new and emerging markets where there is ample opportunity to help kickstart the energy transition", he added.
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To date, VFlowTech claims to have commercially deployed 30 kWh and 100 kWh units for residential applications, along with the completion of its MWh system for large-scale microgrid applications.
"We are excited to support VFlowTech in its mission to produce renewable energy storage solutions that are not only advanced and efficient, but also sustainable and accessible. This is a nascent but highly important industry that will lay the foundation for a greener future. We believe that VFlowTech has the potential to become a changemaker in this space, particularly with their expertise and unique IP," said Louis Christian Murayama, Director, Real Tech Holdings Singapore.
According to VFlowTech, conventional energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion and lead acid batteries have limited functionality, are not environmentally-friendly and experience performance degradation over time. Meanwhile, standard vanadium redox flow batteries are costly, experience high parasitic losses, have poor round trip efficiency and are difficult to operate in tropical conditions.
With its unique IPs and combined decades' worth of experience in renewable energy, the battery company aims to overcome these longstanding vulnerabilities through its modular vanadium redox flow-based energy storage solutions.
VFlowTech's vanadium redox flow batteries 'PowerCubes' feature a unique power stack design that enables a more compact design, a round-trip efficiency higher than the industry standard, reduced parasitic losses and effective operation in temperatures of over 55°C.
This makes them one of the most economical and versatile renewable energy storage solutions in the market. Different PowerCubes can be deployed anywhere from residential settings to solar and wind farms, VFlowTech claims.
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VFlowTech's energy storage solutions have already been deployed to meet energy needs in various parts of the world through joint partnerships in Africa and Southeast Asia, with two batteries set to be deployed in Singapore's Pulau Ubin this year.
The company is also researching the expansion of flow batteries for terminal usage and running a two-year trial to explore scaling flow batteries using storage tank infrastructure.
