March 23, 2023: BCI has launched a Flow Battery Industry Group to maximize synergies with the lead battery industry in boosting energy security in North America, the trade association said on March 22.
The group will be chaired by Scott Childers (pictured) — VP of Essential Power at Stryten Energy.
In addition to Stryten, other founding group members include CleanTech Strategies, CMBlu Energy, Invinity Energy Systems.
Childers said BCI had shown the power of the organization to help battery manufacturers expand and improve the industry.
“We are looking forward to working with other BCI members to advance flow battery manufacturing in North America to help meet America’s energy needs,” he said.
BCI said flow batteries are a natural fit with the association’s existing member services “given several key similarities and synergies between flow battery manufacturing and incumbent battery manufacturing technologies”.
The group evolved from public-private partnership talks between BCI, a US national laboratory and an energy storage company.
Membership in the industry group’s activities will be open to flow battery developers and manufacturers, component suppliers, users, government and academic experts and others.
Additional companies are expected to join in the coming months.
Flow batteries store energy in electrolytes and provide easy-to-scale technology at a low cost.
BCI said flow batteries are an important technology to provide long-duration energy storage and on-demand energy while being environmentally stable, recyclable and having a low carbon footprint.
The formation of the group comes as battery manufacturers are investing in new and emerging technologies within BCI’s core application focus areas, the association said.
The industry group’s initial mandate is to bring together flow battery manufacturers and suppliers to develop approaches to address key common issues facing the industry, including testing, safety and industry statistics.
The group will also foster collaboration between manufacturers and suppliers to develop strategies to strengthen and expand the North American supply chains for flow battery manufacturers.
In addition, the group will host several flow battery-specific sessions at BCI’s Convention and Power Mart Expo from April 23-26 in Kentucky — where flow battery industry suppliers are being encouraged to exhibit.
BCI executive vice president Roger Miksad said the association looked forward to seeing what the new group would achieve and its contributions to the industry and US energy security and diversity.