German iron-salt battery business Voltstorage to close
“It’s a sad day that marks the end of a dream to bring the iron-salt battery to market as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and long-lasting storage technology,” John Alper, principal technologist at Voltstorage, wrote on LinkedIn on Wednesday.
Alper, referring to the closure of Voltstorage, said the company’s technology was sound. He added, of the business’ decision to close, “The reasons are complex: Market adversity, investment cycles, and strategic decisions all played a role. What I want to emphasize is this: The technology and the team delivered.”
Over the last five-and-a-half years, Voltstorage’s iron-salt battery concept developed from a single small cell to 3,200 cm2 stacks of 100 cells. The technology achieved 1,000 cycles without measurable cell chemistry deterioration and a 1 MW demonstrator plant was developed.
The Munich-based company began with a focus on vanadium redox flow batteries for use with residential solar arrays. In 2021, Voltstorage pivoted to commercial systems and two years later it received €30 million ($35 million) from the European Investment Bank to develop the technology.
At that point, Voltstorage announced large scale deployment would occur from this year, supplying commercial users with storage systems capable of securing baseload electricity by bridging supply gaps of up to 100 hours.
In 2022, US company Cummins invested €24 million into Voltstorage to commercialize its iron-salt batteries as part of a series C funding round.
From pv magazine Deutschland.
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