Volt-Storage announces the first pilot projects with customers for 2023. Wind power and solar park operators are very interested in storage options.
(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Munich The start-up Volt-Storage wants to accelerate the commercialization of its iron-salt batteries with fresh capital and a new strategic investor. “We now have planning security and want to accelerate the market launch,” CEO Jakob Bitner told Handelsblatt.
The Munich start-up has developed large batteries based on iron-salt technology. According to the company, these are only about a tenth as expensive per kilowatt hour as conventional lithium-ion batteries. The company put the prototype into operation in December. The first pilot projects with customers are to follow in 2023.
The technology aims to help solve one of the major problems of the energy transition: there is often an abundance of electricity from renewable sources – and there is a shortage when demand is high but there is no wind and it is dark. Therefore, wind power and solar park operators are very interested in storage options.
Volt-Energy has now won the US group Cummins Inc. as an investor. The diesel and gas engine specialist comes from the world of conventional energy sources and, like MAN Energy Solutions in Germany, wants to focus more on renewables as part of its own energy transition.
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“Cummins, for example, can help us with its experience in series production and plant construction,” said Bitner. However, he emphasized that it was a minority stake and that Volt-Storage would remain an independent company.
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As part of Series C financing, the Americans are investing 24 million euros in the Munich start-up. According to industry estimates, the company valuation should have risen to just under 100 million euros.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the topic of storing electricity has once again become more relevant. So far, none of the storage options, such as hydrogen or pumped storage power plants, have come close to offering sufficient capacity. The batteries from Volt-Storage could now be used as intermediate storage in wind farms, for example. The batteries are about four times heavier than lithium-ion storage and are therefore not suitable for electromobility.
Around
100
Million Euros
According to industry estimates, Volt-Storage should be worth after the entry of Cummins.
Lithium-ion batteries are standard today, especially in electromobility, but also in home storage systems. However, lithium prices are already rising significantly and, according to experts, will continue to rise massively in the coming years. In addition, the batteries usually contain cobalt. This is sometimes mined under precarious conditions in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
CEO Bitner and his co-founders Michael Peither (CTO) and Felix Kiefl (CPO) started Volt-Storage in 2016. Competitors include the listed US provider ESS, which is also developing iron-salt-based solutions, albeit for different applications.
According to KfW, Greentech & Klimatech will play a greater role in the future
According to the company, there is great interest in the technology. According to McKinsey, the market for long-duration energy storage, i.e. for storage with long charging and discharging cycles, is likely to grow rapidly in the coming years. According to the experts, the installed energy capacities could increase from one terawatt hour in 2025 to 85 to 140 terawatt hours in 2040.
The CEO of Volt-Storage wants to use the fresh capital to accelerate the market launch.
Volt-Storage has correspondingly large growth plans. “We believe that we can land in the region of 800 million euros in sales by 2029,” said Bitner. The new round of financing now provides the necessary investment security for the time being. “We’re glad it worked out so well,” says Bitner. There have also been alternatives to Cummins.
The environment for financing start-ups has deteriorated significantly since the start of the Ukraine war. Investors take a closer look at the business models. But the interest in environmental and energy technology is still great. According to an analysis by the state development bank KfW, three quarters of investors assume that greentech and climatech will play a greater role in the future.
Most recently, Volt-Storage collected a total of eleven million euros in 2020 and 2021. Among others, the lead investors included the VC company Korys of the Belgian family Colruyt, which invests heavily in energy transition projects, the green tech specialist EIT Innoenergy and Bayern Kapital.
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