Honeywell has announced a strategic collaboration with ESS Tech to advance technology development and market adoption of iron flow battery (IFB) energy storage systems.

Courtesy of ESS Tech/Honeywell.

The relationship builds upon each company’s development of energy storage systems and brings together ESS’ patented IFB design with Honeywell’s advanced materials and energy systems expertise.

“The demand for long-duration energy storage represents a compelling market opportunity within the energy transition and the combination of Honeywell and ESS technology can accelerate decarbonisation for the commercial, industrial and utility sectors” said Bryan Glover, chief growth officer, Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology (PMT) group. “Our strategic collaboration with ESS will accelerate Honeywell’s ability to bring comprehensive solutions to our customers while working to advance long-duration energy storage across all industries requiring expansive energy storage.”

Honeywell and ESS are working together to meet growing global demand for long-duration energy storage (LDES), driven by the rapid increase in renewable power generation. This is creating a substantial and fast-growing market as countries worldwide transition to zero carbon energy. The current global energy storage market is estimated to be $50 billion per year and is forecast to grow significantly with a cumulative investment of up to $3 trillion by 2040, according to the LDES Council and McKinsey & Co.

“Today, we are creating superior technology in the critical long-duration energy storage industry” added Eric Dresselhuys, CEO of ESS. “Combining ESS’ innovative technology and deployment experience with Honeywell’s storage and control system expertise will enable us to drive the clean energy transition and deliver value to our customers, shareholders and communities.”

As the shift to renewable energy accelerates, challenges associated with the intermittency of wind and solar energy are becoming more apparent. Safe and sustainable IFB technology enables the transition to clean energy using Earth-abundant materials – iron, salt and water – to provide energy storage without reliance upon limited minerals such as lithium, cobalt or vanadium.