Flow batteries have been around for several decades now and a number of industrial-size systems are in operation on all continents (and many islands), with more 30 companies in this business worldwide. Most of them are focused on the vanadium chemistry, some on the hybrid zinc-bromine concept, and a few others are working at different solutions.

Since 2014, Kemwatt has been developing a technology utilizing organic molecules, based on 10 years of scientific research. In 2016, it has successfully tested the first industrial-scale (20 kW) prototype in the world and is now testing a containerized demonstrator in order to prove the technology with industrial partners. Featuring biodegradable, aqueous alkaline solutions of organic molecules such as quinones, the technology appears to be quite reliable, as the results of hundreds of tests carried out in the last few years show. The compromise reached with this arrangement can pave the way for a complete overhaul of energy management in remote areas, as can be found in isolated sites. If you can store solar or wind energy in batteries that are easy to manage, with simple maintenance requirements, a very long life, minimal risk (being water-based, the process is fireproof) and no end-of-life environmental issues, at a lower cost than diesel-based energy generation, the potential to accelerate the current transition is quite obvious.

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