Elestor acquires “FlowBox” assets from Areva

Largest hydrogen bromine flow battery in the world will be completed by Dutch developer

ELESTOR (NL) and AREVA (F) signed the formal agreement for the acquisition of the FlowBox project assets. This project, headed by Areva with the partners InnoEnergy France, EnStorage and Schneider Electronics, developed and built a prototype hydrogen bromine flow battery of 150 kW / 900 kWh. This is the largest hydrogen bromine flow battery in the world.

The transfer is in line with the new strategic action plan of Areva Energy Storage (*). On October 9^th, 2018, Areva Energy Storage announced to focus on industrialization of its modular PEM fuel cell technology for which it has already obtained a strong international position.

”We are pleased”, says Michel Loiseau, President of AREVA Energy Storage, “that the flow battery expertise will be preserved for the European industry. To us Elestor is an ideal party to acquire the activities that we have started under FlowBox.”

Wiebrand Kout, CTO of Elestor, comments: “This is world class knowledge and very relevant for us. Although we regret that AREVA Energy Storage and partners had to end their flow battery developments, we are satisfied that we managed to take over a large part of their hardware and expertise. There is large interest in Elestor’s technology worldwide and this agreement gives us the opportunity to further accelerate our developments”.

Early 2019 the system will be moved to the Netherlands, where it will be completed with bi-directional inverters and Elestor’s proprietary membrane stacks to bring it to full operation.

(*) Areva Energy Storage 100% subsidiary of Areva group