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Flow Battery Vs. Tesla Battery Smackdown Looming

The company is involved in a three-part Energy Department–sponsored smart grid energy storage project in Washington State, which is designed to demonstrate high-efficiency systems for tapping into the region’s wind energy resources.

The project is set up to include both Li-on and flow battery technology. UET was tapped to provide a flow battery for Avista Utilities, which was assigned to develop a “smart campus” microgrid with Washington State University in Pullman. One major end-user will be the employee-owned electric power systems company Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.

The battery was delivered earlier this year and the new announcement confirms that the shakedown period is over, and it is now fully owned by Avista.

Here’s the subtle dig at the Tesla battery from company CEO Gary Yang from the press release:

…UET is not shy to say it has the best grid-scale energy storage solution at the best levelized cost, maximizing value for the customer.

Actually, UET is hardly being subtle about it. Back up a couple of graphs in the press release and you’ll find this nugget:

The Uni.System’s levelized cost ($/total GWh delivered over 20 year life) is multiple times lower than the cost of lithium ion systems such as Tesla. Those have limited availability of their energy, degrade in capacity, are flammable, and have ¼ to ½ the lifetime of the Uni.System.

https://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/21...kdown-looming/