Wednesday, March 27, 2024

PolyJoule unveils ultra-safe polymer battery for stationary storage

The transition towards a more sustainable, environmentally sound electrical grid has driven an upsurge in renewables like solar and wind. However, unlike the energy sources used in conventional power plants, these renewable sources are not dispatchable, and they fluctuate over time, resulting in intermittent feed-in of electricity into the grid. Due to the intermittent nature of renewables, energy storage companies are looking to enhance power system flexibility while enabling the integration of renewables.

PolyJoule, a Billerica, Massachusetts-based startup, has unveiled a new battery based on proprietary conductive polymers and other organic, non-metallic materials. The company said its new batteries are designed to suit the needs of stationary power applications where safety, lifetime, levelized costs, and environmental footprints are key decision drivers.

PolyJoule takes a systems-level approach married to high-throughput, analytical electrochemistry that has allowed the company to pinpoint a chemical cell design based on 10,000 trials. The result is a low-cost, safe, and long-life battery that is capable of responding to base loads and peak loads in microseconds. PolyJoule’s conductive polymer cells span the performance curve between traditional lead-acid batteries and modern lithium-ion cells. The innovative polymer battery cells are tested to perform 12,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge.

“We see ultra-safe energy storage as a long-term capital asset, rather than a short-term add-on trend in the surging renewables renaissance,” notes Eli Paster, CEO of PolyJoule. “That means that any chemistry, at the cell-level build, must be fundamentally robust, safe, green, and cost-effective over its lifetime. For grid-level assets, time scales are measured in decades, not years.”

The first generation PolyJoule Power Cell is well suited for mission-critical power applications in the utility and commercial and industrial spaces: such as power conditioning, peak shaving, frequency regulation, hybrid power energy storage, and high-power datacenter backup.