Deal to remove inverters from grid-scale lithium battery systems
Energy management company Exro Technologies in Canada and battery cell maker Lithium Werks in the US are looking to improve the performance of lithium iron phosphate battery systems. The deal will develop the ability to control energy output and input for any given battery at any given point in time, allowing operators to change dynamically how much capacity is devoted to grid storage versus load balancing of a given grid bank at any given time.
The two companies will develop ability to reconfigure battery assemblies so they can be successfully charged or discharged at different voltages, resulting in system efficiency gains and eliminates need for a traditional inverter to handle grid storage or load balancing. This will allow system developers to simply add more batteries, without having to add additional control or power conditioning equipment and enhance the redundancy for fault tolerance, as failed batteries will not bring down the system. THis comes from easier battery balancing with no battery-to-battery leakage, and the ability to hot-swap batteries while in operation
“We will combine our technologies to develop flexible battery voltage input and output solutions for applications ranging from large scale energy storage for the grid, to everyday consumer goods,” said Mark Godsy, CEO of Exro Technologies.
Exro’s software technology allows for constant monitoring and manipulation of energy inflows and outflows, at rates of up to 100k manipulations per second. The goal is total control of the flow of energy, in effect allowing better, more balanced storage of energy, especially under changing conditions, while also making battery banks of any size inherently electrically safe. Exro’s technology is also designed to make it possible to “swarm” batteries by getting them to work in concert with one another to better manage and load balance inflows and outflows of energy under varying conditions.
“This strategic partnership with Exro Technologies comes at a time of soaring demand for our Lithium Werks’ NanoPhosphate lithium ion battery technology,” said Joseph Fisher, CEO and co-founder of Lithium Werks. “Our high-powered batteries are both smaller and lighter as well as safer and more durable than those offered by our competitors. By combining this with Exro’s intelligent technology, we are building a strong foundation for a partnership capable of serving the cutting-edge requirements of our customers in the new applications market.”
Lithium Werks was formed from the merger of Valence and A123 (via Massachusetts Institute of Technology) with over 420 patents around Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathode material, processing, cell and module designs, It produces versions of the most common sizes of Lithium ion cells in the world (18650 and 26650 sizes) ranging from 1.1Ah to 3.2Ah as well as 12 battery modules used as building blocks to assemble packs up to 1000V of any capacity providing flexibility in shape, runtime, and expandability. It has production facilities in China and offices in the USA, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway.
www.lithiumwerks.com www.exro.com
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