Certain Energy secures £10M Series A to advance long-duration energy storage technology
British long-duration energy storage company Certain Energy has raised £10 million in Series A funding to commercialise its manganese-based flow battery technology and prepare it for grid-scale deployment. The round was led by the British Business Bank, with participation from Centrica, Ceres Power Holdings and Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H).
Founded in 2017 as a spin-off from Imperial College London and formerly known as RFC Power, Certain Energy develops long-duration energy storage (LDES) systems that can store renewable electricity and release it when wind and solar generation is low. The technology aims to help stabilise electricity grids, reduce renewable energy curtailment and lower dependence on gas-fired peaker plants.
As renewable energy capacity grows, electricity grids increasingly face periods of both excess generation and insufficient supply. Certain Energy is addressing this challenge with flow batteries that use manganese, an abundant material that the company believes could offer a more affordable alternative to materials used in other long-duration storage systems.
Unlike conventional batteries, flow batteries store energy in liquid electrolytes kept in external tanks. Certain Energy can extend the system’s discharge duration by increasing the size of these tanks, allowing the batteries to store and deliver electricity for periods ranging from several hours to multiple days.
The company says its technology offers more than 75% round-trip efficiency and is designed to compete with lithium-ion batteries for key grid services while also providing the longer-duration storage and reserve capacity needed as renewable energy adoption increases.
Its patented electrolyte is designed to operate for up to 20 years with limited capacity degradation. Certain Energy also says its technology and material selection could reduce marginal storage costs to around one-tenth of those of comparable vanadium flow batteries.
The new funding will support the development of a grid-connected MWh-scale system in India, expansion of the company’s UK research facility and the creation of a supply chain for commercial deployments. The capital will also help Certain Energy prepare its technology for volume production and wider commercialisation.