Voltstorage, a German company founded in Munich in 2016, is launching a vanadium-redox-flow (VRF) energy storage system aimed at the residential market.
It would be just the second such device launched worldwide to date by a manufacturer, after Australian company Redflow began producing 10kWh VRF systems for households in March 2016, only to discontinue the product just over a year later. Another major European manufacturer had been discussing launching similar systems a couple of years ago, but this appears to have not been followed through with.
With the Intersolar Europe conference and trade exhibition coming up in mid-June in Voltstorage’s home city, the company has launched Voltstorage SMART, which can store 6.8kWh of electricity and has a maximum output of 2.0kW. Two or more units can be connected in series to create larger capacities, with the battery system apparently compatible with “any household electrical connection and any photovoltaic unit”, according to the company.
Voltstorage claims the units can be updated via the internet to optimise battery management, can handle upwards of 10,000 full cycles in their lifetime and require little or no maintenance. Available as an all-in-one package including inverter, supply and installation and data monitoring via an app, the SMART devices are guaranteed for 10 years.
Back in May 2017, when Redflow discontinued its residential units, Energy-Storage.News spoke with industry analyst Julian Jansen about the prospects for commercialisation of flow energy storage devices for household use. Jansen said that it was “highly unlikely that flow batteries will succeed as a viable competing option to Lithium-ion based systems in the residential market outside of very specific niche applications”.
Recent Comments