Energy storage startup ViZn, developer of advanced zinc-iron flow battery technology,
is scaling up the size and scope of its operations as it works to meet
growing demand from a variety of customers both in the U.S. and abroad.
It entered into a strategic manufacturing and supply chain management
agreement with Jabil Circuit, a leading global provider of such
services. ViZn is seeing demand for its zinc-iron flow batteries growing across
a range of applications and end-users, from microgrids, commercial and
industrial companies to military applications and utility-scale systems,
said CEO Ron Van Dell.
“We have over 20-MW of demand to serve right now. The next two to
three quarters will be a very fast ramp-up period for us,” Van Dell
said. Management expects orders to continue growing through 2016. It's
looking to begin scaling up manufacturing at Jabil's principal facility
in St. Petersburg, FL in this year's third quarter, expand capacity in
Q4, and then ramp up even more substantially in Q1 2016.
Scaling Up Via a Strategic Manufacturing Partnership
In searching for a strategic contract manufacturing partner, ViZn was
looking for an organization that not only was able to scale up
production of its zinc-iron flow batteries in short order, but had
financial strength and a strong multinational reputation. What sealed the deal for ViZn was Jabil's previous experience working
with startups looking to evolve from a technology development company
into fully formed multinational business organization, Van Dell
explained. Set for an initial term of five years, leveraging Jabil
Circuit's strengths and expertise in specialized manufacturing and
supply chain management will enable ViZn to grow and mature much more
rapidly than would otherwise be the case. Jabil has 90 sites across 24 countries, which will help ViZn meet
demand for its zinc-iron flow batteries, as well as develop its customer
service and maintenance capabilities, Van Dell noted.
Bright Prospects for Solar-Plus-Storage Solutions
A ViZn zinc-iron flow battery system integrated with a solar PV
system is up and running at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia as part
of a Dominion Power installation. ViZn sees bright prospects for the combination of solar and battery storage
in the well-developed energy markets of the U.S. and Europe where
renewable energy deployment is high and grid integration is a priority.
Demand for solar-plus-storage is growing even faster in developing
countries where electricity is unreliable and/or prohibitively
expensive, or not available at all.
Typically “flow batteries tend to be
energy- [as opposed to power-] centric; they're not ideally suited to
meet peak power demand,” Van Dell explained. ViZn has resolved that
issue, as well as fast switching between polarities. “These have been
tough challenges, but ones ViZn has been able to solve. That's
essentially what our IP [intellectual property] is all about.” Addressing costs, Van Dell said ViZn's zinc-iron flow batteries today
come in at $400-$500 per kWh. Management is confident that will drop
below $200 per kWh over the next two to three years. “We feel pretty
good about how we're positioned,” Van Dell said.
While lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery storage is the dominant growth
driver in the fledgling market for advanced energy storage solutions,
Van Dell sees this changing in the near-term. Van Dell believes there are a number of reasons, both economic and
non-economic, why Li-ion batteries don't make sense when it comes to
mid-tier and utility-grade stationary applications. “We think it's kind
of flawed logic to think that magically the right storage technology for
mobile transport purposes like EVs turns out to be the optimal storage
technology for large stationary apps.”
While touting Li-ion technology as a stationary battery storage
solution “may be convenient if you're looking to create demand for a
huge factory, the real world will tell us that the applications and
attributes of advanced battery storage systems are so distinct as to
argue strongly against such broad-based adoption.”
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/06/vizn-turns-to-jabil-to-meet-growing-demand-for-flow-batteries.html