A small company will establish Korea’s first flow battery mass-production system. As energy storage system (ESS) market is expanding at home and abroad, secondary battery materials are forecast to diversify from the existing lithium to flow materials.
H2 (CEO: Han Shin) announced on the 8th that it had secured a construction site in Yuseong, Daejeon (4628m2) and would start building a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) production plant with an annual production capacity of 30MWh. As the only flow battery manufacturer in Korea, H2 recently won an investment of KRW 3 billion from KRB Network and Korea Development Bank. This is analyzed as a result of the company’s unrivalled technological power and product marketability recognized by the industry.
In 2013, H2 developed 50kWh and 100kWh ESS products mounted with a redox flow battery as the first in Korea. This company holds not only ESS design and production abilities, but also the competency to develop various software products necessary in ESS operation. Last year, H2 built an ESS applied with its flow battery in Sejong Lake Park of Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City, and thus won recognition even for the high product quality.
Compared to lithium batteries, H2’s redox flow battery is around twice in volume. However, as it charges and discharges electric energy generated by circulation of electrolyte in liquid state, this product provides differentiated competitive power in terms of safety and capacity expansion. As a result, H2’s redox flow battery is suitable to outdoor ESS environment, such as for wind and photovoltaic power facilities, rather than indoor spaces.
With the investment induction as a momentum, H2 decided to target medium to large-scale ESS market by strengthening its R&D and marketing abilities in addition to production facilities. For this, H2 has established a strategy to develop large-scale MWh level VRFB ESS within the year, and thus to enter ‘renewable energy + ESS’ convergence market based on a link between ESS and photovoltaic and wind power generation technologies as well as domestic and overseas microgrid markets.
“As the weight of renewable energy certificate (REC) for ‘wind power + ESS model’ is amplified, the demand for ESS in various forms and microgrid technology will increase,” said CEO Han Shin. “We are promoting cooperation with leading power generation companies in Korea. So, we will be able to win large-scale ESS orders for flow battery application within the year.”