ITI Energy Plans £9.3m Investment Package

A California company will move its key electricity storage technology to Scotland to set up a business it predicts could employ a couple of thousand people.

ITI Energy, the Scottish Enterprise-backed clustering initiative, will invest £9.3 million over three years to help a new company, Plurion, to develop its technology into large-scale battery systems which could help overcome the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Electrochemical Design Associates (EDA) is to relocate six key staff to Plurion to take the project forward. EDA is a technology development and business incubation company headquartered in Berkeley, California.

Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen said, “The planned successful commercialization of this novel technology by ITI Energy and Plurion will help reinforce Scotland’s reputation for pioneering R&D and see a major Scottish company develop in the process.” U.S.-based Applied Intellectual Capital will also be involved.

The 250kW flow batteries, each 10 feet tall and 40 feet long with the capacity to power about 50 homes, would help renewable energy systems to power a greater portion of demand by allowing the generation of power to be at a different time than when it is used.

The intention is that the batteries will be manufactured in Scotland and marketed to wind farm operators, utilities and industrial power users around the world.