EOS Energy Storage has placed an order totalling more than 1MW from NASDAQ-listed power converter specialist Ideal Power, while both companies have launched new products since the start of the year.
EOS makes energy storage systems at various scales and has its own patented aqueous battery technology, Znyth. The company launched a new standard 1MW DC battery, Aurora 1000|4000, which uses Znyth’s aqueous electrolyte and zinc-hybrid cathode, in late January.
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The containerised Aurora battery will be sold at US$160 per kWh, with EOS claiming the battery is safe as well as cost-competitive with gas peaking generation and with distribution infrastructure operated by utilities. Aurora systems can discharge a duration of four hours of stored electricity, according to EOS. The suitability of battery systems to compete with gas generation and to save money on infrastructure updates appears to be growing in importance across the industry.
Meanwhile, Ideal Power’s power converters use a patented technology, Power Packet Switching Architecture, to provide isolation without requiring a transformer. In an interview with PV Tech Storage last year, Ideal Power president Paul Bundschuh explained more about how the converters work, and which markets he saw as the best fit for his company’s products, including microgrids.
EOS Energy Storage's 1MW Aurora battery, which uses a zinc-hybrid cathode, will be sold at US$160 per kWh, according to the company. Image: EOS Energy Storage facebook page.
Ideal Power, which also supplies converters to Sharp for its commercial storage products in the US, has been added to EOS Aegis Partners, which is a roster of system integration companies that EOS works with. Through the latest deal between the two, Ideal Power’s converters will be used with forthcoming EOS projects based around Aurora battery systems. EOS also has partnerships in place with several major utility and infrastructure companies, including the USA’s Con Edison and NRG, Italy’s Enel and the UK’s transmission network operator, National Grid. EOS says it has recently completed a pilot project for Con Edison and NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority), for which it used and successfully demonstrated Ideal Power’s power converters.
Ideal Power has also this week launched a new product, the Grid Resilient 30kW Power Conversion System (PCS), which the company says can support industrial and commercial customers’ grid resiliency and provide microgrid backup. Aircraft maker Boeing has already placed an initial order for the systems.
