Aquion Energy

Aquion Energy
Industry Electronics
Headquarters Lawrenceville
Key people
CEO Scott Pearson[1]
CTO Jay Whitacre
Products Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) battery
Website aquionenergy.com

Aquion Energy is a Pittsburgh-based company that manufactures sodium ion batteries and energy storage systems.

The company claims to provide a low-cost way to store large amounts of energy (e.g. for an electricity grid) through thousands of battery cycles, and a non-toxic end product made from widely available material inputs and which operates safely and reliably across a wide range of temperatures and operating environments.[2]

An individual battery stack was expected to store 1.5 kWh, a pallet-sized unit 180 kWh and a shipping-container-size box holds 2.88 MWh.[3][4] The battery cannot overheat.[5]

The company expects its products to last for more than 3,000 charge/discharge cycles while retaining 80% of capacity,[6] twice as long as lead-acid batteries. Costs are expected to be about the same as with lead-acid.[7][8]

History

The company was founded in 2008 by Jay Whitacre, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Ted Wiley. They set up research and development offices in Lawrenceville, where it produced pilot-stage batteries.

The company claims to have raised funding from Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital, Bill Gates, Nick and Jobey Pritzker, Bright Capital and Advanced Technology Ventures, among others.[9]

In October 2014 they announced a new generation[10] with a single stack reaching 2.4 kWh and a multi-stack module holding 25.5 kWh.[11]

In 2015, the company announced that it would supply batteries for a Hawaii microgrid to serve as backup for a 176-kilowatt solar panel array. The system will store 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.[12]

In April 2015 they announced they have been Cradle to Cradle Certified.[13] to Bronze level[14] It was also reported they were reducing headcount.[15]

In September '15 Whitacre won the Lemelson–MIT Prize[16]

Technology

Main article: Sodium-ion battery

The battery materials are non-toxic.[17] As of early 2014 the cathode used manganese oxide and relies on intercalation reactions. The anode was a titanium phosphate (NaTi2(PO4)3).[18] The electrolyte was <5M NaClO4.[19] A synthetic cotton separator was reported.[20] The electrode layers were an unusually thick (>2 mm), which reduces power density. The device used Siemens power inverter technology.[21]

Production

The company set up manufacturing facilities at a former Sony television assembly plant in East Huntingdon,[22] initially proposing a capacity of 500 megawatt-hours per year in 2013 and 2014.[23] In March 2014 they announced that commercial shipments of batteries would begin in mid-2014,[24] and in May 2014 announced they had shipped 100 units.[25]

Key personnel

Jay Whitacre

Dr. Jay F. Whitacre received a BA in Physics from Oberlin College and a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Michigan. He held various positions at Caltech (as a Postdoctoral Scholar at JPL) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, studying energy-related topics ranging from fundamental materials function to systems engineering. In 2007 he accepted a professorship at Carnegie Mellon.[26][27]

See also

References

  1. "Grid Energy Storage Management Team". Aquion Energy. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  2. "Technology". Aquion. Retrieved 2014-07-26.
  3. Martin LaMonica (2011-07-22). "Aquion Energy takes plunge into bulk grid storage". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  4. aquionenergy.com (2013-10-28). "Grid scale batteries". aquionenergy.com. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  5. Bogo, Jennifer; Gertz, Emily (December 2014). "Clean, Cheap Energy Storage". Popular Science. 285 (6): 026. Retrieved 26 December 2014. It’s nontoxic, low-cost, and modular, and it can’t overheat.
  6. "Aquion Technical Presentation" (PDF). Aquion Energy. Aquion Energy. 2014. Retrieved February 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  7. Kevin Bullis (18 February 2014). "Storing the Sun". MIT Technology review.
  8. Kevin Bullis (14 November 2014). "A Battery to Prop Up Renewable Power Hits the Market". MIT Technology review.
  9. "Aquion Energy Announces $35 Million Financing Round to Support Commercialization and Launch of Novel Energy Storage Systems". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  10. Katie Fehrenbacher. "Startup Aquion Energy shows off the next generation of its battery for solar and the grid". gigaom.com.
  11. "Aquion Energy Reveals Second-Gen AHI Battery Technology, 40% Increase In Energy". CleanTechnica.
  12. Bullis, Kevin (January 8, 2015). "Grid Batteries for Wind, Solar Find First Customers". Technology Review. Retrieved February 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  13. Hanley, Steve. "Aquion Energy Aqueous Hybrid Ion Battery Is Cradle To Cradle Certified". cleantechnica. cleantechnica. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  14. Eco-Business. "WEnergy Global wins bid to light up bicycle track around Bangkok International Airport". Eco-Business.
  15. Coyne, Justine. "Aquion Energy cuts jobs in Pittsburgh". Pittsburgh Business Times. Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  16. Smit, Deb. "CMU's Jay Whitacre wins the Lemelson-MIT Prize for his incredible, edible (nontoxic) battery". next pittsburgh. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  17. "Reinterpreting the Process of Innovation: Jay Whitacre at TEDxCMU 2012". TED. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  18. Whitacre, J. F.; Shanbhag, S.; Mohamed, A.; Polonsky, A.; Carlisle, K.; Gulakowski, J.; Wu, W.; Smith, C.; Cooney, L. (2015-01-01). "A Polyionic, Large-Format Energy Storage Device Using an Aqueous Electrolyte and Thick-Format Composite NaTi2(PO4)3/Activated Carbon Negative Electrodes". Energy Technology. 3 (1): 20–31. doi:10.1002/ente.201402127. ISSN 2194-4296.
  19. Wu, Wei; Shabhag, Sneha; Chang, Jiang; Rutt, Ann; Whitacre, Jay F. (2015). "Relating Electrolyte Concentration to Performance and Stability for NaTi2(PO4)3/Na0.44MnO2 Aqueous Sodium-Ion Batteries" (PDF). Journal of The Electrochemical Society. 162 (6): A803–A808. doi:10.1149/2.0121506jes.
  20. {{Cite Whitacre, J.; Shanbhag, S.; Mohamed, A.; Polonsky, A.; Carlisle, K.; Gulakowski, J.; Wu, W.; Smith, C.; Cooney, L.; Blackwood, D.: A Polyionic, Large-Format Energy Storage Device Using an Aqueous Electrolyte and Thick Format Composite NaTi2(PO4)3 / Activated Carbon Negative Electrodes. Energy Technology 2015, 3, 20-31. }}
  21. "A new power grid battery emerges with a deal from Siemens — Tech".
  22. "Aquion chooses Sony site for battery plant". Pittsburghlive.com. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  23. "Aquion Energy's Disruptive Battery Tech Picks Up $35M in VC". Greentech Media. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  24. Doom, Justin (2014-03-19). "Aquion to Begin Commercial Battery Shipments This Year, CEO Says". Businessweek. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  25. "Aquion gearing up for battery production". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  26. "Dr Jay Whitacre". The Battery Show. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
  27. "Jay Whitacre - Google Scholar Citations". Scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-27.

External links

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