Grid-scale battery system developer Eos Energy Storage is deploying its aqueous, zinc hybrid cathode (‘Znyth’) technology for two projects in the US.
The company’s Aurora 2.0 battery system has been installed by utility Duke Energy as part of a DC-coupled solar-plus-storage system in North Carolina. Separately, Aurora is being used for behind-the-meter storage at the University of California, San Diego, in a project funded by the California Energy Commission.
In North Carolina, Duke Energy is commissioning a 30kW/120kWh system at its McAlpine test facility. Eos said its battery has been directly integrated to a grid-connected solar array “using a DC-DC converter instead of an AC-inverter to eliminate unnecessary hardware and reduce efficiency losses”.
Eos said the system can be decentralised and distributed throughout the solar array, “because it does not require HVAC or fire suppression, allowing developers to maximise energy production while minimising upfront capital cost and operations and maintenance”.
In San Diego, Aurora “provides 30kW/120kWh as a modular, AC-integrated, plug-and-play solution optimised for behind-the-meter applications”, Eos said.
According to Eos, its system is the only non-lithium energy storage tech to date to be contracted through a statewide procurement process in California.
In 2015, Eos secured an initial $15 million in funding for a pilot manufacturing scale-up of Aurora, which the company said then promised 75% round-trip efficiency and 10,000 life cycles at a price of $160 per kWh.
