Flow Batteries are an emerging technology the U.S. DOE predicts will capture half of the long duration energy storage (LDES) market by 2030. Unlike the fast-dominating Li-ion technology which is flammable and costly, and the location constrained hydro storage, FBs are non-flammable, transportable, and use inexpensive earth abundant materials. However, the biggest technical flaws of FBs are their lack of diagnostics and data management, because these systems require hundreds of sensors in each unit to see a complete picture of performance. Moreover, current systems are not mature enough to facilitate lifecycle assessment and predictive modeling. This issue is currently addressed internally and through generic data management systems retrofitted for FBs, creating operation & maintenance (O&M) costs and efficiency losses equaling 11% and 16% respectively of the entire system cost.
The Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Council calculates that LDES technologies have the potential to decrease industrial carbon emissions by . Industrial CO2 emissions reported by the energy information administration calculates a total of 37 Gigaton (GT) of CO2 in 2022. Moreover, the DOE energy storage grand challenge predicts that FBs will capture half of the LDES market by 2030, and thus we can calculate the potential impact FBs will have as 12 GT CO2 assuming the amount of CO2 decreased over the next 10 years through electrification of industrial processes is offset by the increase in materials production. Of this 12 GT CO2, we assume 14% is attributed by advancements in diagnostics (pertained by the ratio of FB total available market to overall FB market), calculating an impressive 2 GT of CO2 is avoided from flow battery diagnostics. In terms of our product, from an EIA estimate that 9,200 GW of energy storage is needed and using our expertise and academic literature reporting the power, duration, and capacity of a flow battery, we find that 158M flow batteries will be needed for grid reliability, each containing diagnostics controls and technology [21]. Therefore, our solution avoids 10 tons of CO2 for each flow battery we outfit with diagnostics, or 4,500 tons of CO2 per year (average of 75 active facilities per year and average of 6 batteries per facility).
Our company uniquely straddles the intersection of FBs and system diagnostics, and we are first movers in this market. Our indirect competitors consist of first, general battery performance testing technologies (i.e. Arbin Instruments and Scribner), however, these technologies are designed for lab-scale Li-ion systems and measurements cannot be taken inside of the battery. Second are generic system level diagnostics for large liquid processes (i.e. Energsoft and Mettler Toledo). Although these companies are large and have a wider breadth of data analytic resources than we do, our competitive advantage is that we understand the inner workings of FBs and which of the many electrochemical processes are co-dependent, whereas competitors cannot accurately design a robust system to enable FB efficiency because they do not have the same level of experience analyzing and predicting FB performance.
Product Offered
With FlowCellutions sensing intellectual property layered within the FB stack during manufacturing, and yearly licensing of our software, FB manufacturers can significantly cut costs of their system. Our solution consists of novel sensing hardware to pinpoint the location of battery failure, accompanying data storage, and a user interface for battery operators to improve lifetime and fix problems before they occur. An added value of our product is the ease of reporting accurate mandatory data to Underwriters Laboratory (UL) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). As the battery space is becoming increasingly more mature and regulated, our product will become more valuable as a data collection method for regulatory entities to trust, incentivizing its adoption.
Market Overview
Global electricity generation is predicted to increase by 30% by 2050, with 90% coming from renewable energy. These intermittent sources require batteries to output a stable supply of power to create a reliable electric grid. This creates a global $335B market by 2032 for LDES technologies, such as FBs. The market analysis from a leading flow battery company, Infinity Energy systems, shares their cost breakdown of the flow battery system depicting the combination of O&M costs and poor efficiency costs making up one-third of their overall system price, which we can interpret as diagnostics solutions servicing one-third of the FB market. With FBs expected to capture half of the LDES market by 2050 (from the DOE energy storage grand challenge road map), we estimate the total addressable market as the FB diagnostics and data management space of $45B, or 13% of the overall FB market.
We validated the cost breakdown from the Invinity website and resulting market estimate, by comparing to related markets. For example, precedence research reports the Li-ion battery market worth $387B and its battery management worth $54B by 2032 giving 14%, and the microgrid market is worth $30B and its diagnostics is worth $4B by 2032 giving 13%. In comparison, our solution reasonably matches closely related estimates.
Initially, we will target a subset of this market as our beachhead, small and growing flow battery companies, as our serviceable obtainable market who expressed interest in significantly benefiting from a system to improve their data analysis, meaning they only need the diagnostics software system. These customers control their own batteries and sensors, but through customer discovery we learned that they are not aware of the best practices in terms of battery operation and performance.
The serviceable available market is medium size flow battery companies. These are companies that are mature enough that they are making sales of their systems and are not just in the R&D phase, and have an average of 6 or more flow batteries per facility which require extensive monitoring hardware. These customers have enough market traction to be focusing on making their systems cheaper and more efficient, but are not large enough to have the skillset or bandwidth to develop the diagnostics platform they need. However, they are not large enough that they can hire their own software development team so they require our diagnostics services. As the majority of our customers are located in europe, we will begin serving international clients in our first few customers and expand globally with the market.
Value Proposition
Reduce System Cost
•Reduction in cost due to O&M optimization + increased efficiency
•First company that makes diagnostics specifically for commercial flow batteries
•Outperform the Li-ion 5-7 year lifespan models with 25 year FB models
Making Renewable Energy Affordable
•Stationary Storage can cut industrial carbon emissions by 2/3.
•We can accelerate the fight against climate change through smarter diagnostics and data management
Leverage Government Resources
•Streamline NFPA and UL safety standards
•Women-owned small business contractor
