Portland, OR: Battery manufacturer ESS Inc. announced November 16 that it would deliver a 60kW/225kWh All-Iron Flow Battery (IFB) system under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The battery will be part of an integrated microgrid at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, where they will demonstrate long-duration storage capability for use in Forward Operating Bases (FOB). The U.S. military’s main objective is to show that delivering dry long-duration batteries to the field significantly reduces fuel usage, hauling equipment requirements and associated logistics.
ESS Inc.’s All-Iron Flow Battery can be forward deployed in a dry state, adding water at the site. The IFB is also environmentally safe for transport and deployment in sensitive areas, and can be repositioned as needed, the company says. The advantage of adding local potable water after delivery is that the weight that must be transported is 60% less than other flow or traditional batteries.
Additionally, with an electrolyte comprised of iron, salt and water, there is no health hazard or potential site contamination.
Established in 2011, ESS Inc. manufactures a low-cost, long-duration redox flow battery for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications requiring 6+ hours of flexible energy capacity and 20+ years of operating life. Using cheap and abundant iron, instead of the conventional vanadium, plus salt and water, the company’s battery allows improved cost savings. ESS says users can expect over 10,000 cycles at over 80% depth of discharge during a 25-year life, with minimal maintenance. Cell design dramatically increases power density and enables a smaller, less costly power stack. ESS also says it has scaled up and validated its battery technology from watts to multi-kW power modules and from a single power module to fully-integrated, multi-power module, turnkey systems.