The challenge
Rapid adoption of renewables has created a massive long-term and unmet need for battery storage to even out times of excess generation and excess consumption. At the same time, surging demand from electric vehicles has caused sharp increases in the price of critical raw materials for lithium-ion batteries, such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt.
As more renewables come online on the electrical grid, needs have been shifting to longer and longer durations of energy storage. Flow batteries are well-suited to longer durations of storage greater than 4 hours. Beyond 4 hours, the cost of lithium-ion batteries does not change much, but flow batteries become cheaper as the storage duration increases, and can undercut lithium-ion batteries in cost.
The results
Quino’s flow battery chemistry uses materials made from abundant sources – coal tar chemicals – and can be easily supplied through fully domestic (US) supply chains. Compared to many other battery chemistries, their flow batteries offer true fire safety because all the battery reactants are dissolved in water. Moreover, Quino’s system does not produce any hydrogen gas during charging, unlike most other kinds of flow batteries – especially hybrid flow batteries that deposit solid metal during the charging process.
Quino Energy’s latest pilot systems, showcases the potential of its innovative quinone-based flow battery technology. The highlight of these efforts is a 6 kW/24 kWh energy storage system, now fully operational and providing enough electricity to power the average American household.
This cutting-edge system relies on a low-cost, zero-waste quinone battery material developed in the United States. Remarkably, Quino Energy’s chemistry has been seamlessly integrated into hardware originally designed for vanadium-based flow batteries with minimal modifications, demonstrating compatibility and versatility.
Alongside this system, Quino Energy is operating two additional pilot systems with capacities of 1.5 kW/6 kWh. These systems further demonstrate the viability of its quinone chemistry using hardware from two different flow battery OEMs.
