Dive Brief:
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Ambri is going after the stationary storage market with an improved version of its liquid metal battery technology, Greentech Media reports.
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An Ambri spokesperson told the media outlet it is preparing to deploy a 500 kWh commercial storage system in 2018.
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Ambri has raised more than $50 million in venture capital from investors KLP Enterprises, the family office of Karen Pritzker and Michael Vlock, Building Insurance Bern, Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates and French energy giant Total.
Dive Insight:
Over the last year, the duration of energy storage installations has shown signs of stretching out to longer durations, according to the latest quarterly report on the storage market from GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association.
While lithium-ion battery types dominate the market, startups like Ambri are eyeing other technologies for long duration battery projects.
Ambri says that although its battery can be used for frequency regulation, it is a long-duration energy storage technology with no fade rate on full depth of discharge cycling over thousands of cycles and years of operation. Ambri had been working on prototype storage systems with project partners such as Hawaiian Electric and Con Edison.
A 2015 study identified Ambri as an energy storage company to watch in the upcoming year, alongside EOS Energy Storage, a zinc-based energy storage company, and Aquion Energy, a salt-water energy storrage developer.