ViZn Energy Systems’ Zinc/iron Flow Battery Commissioned at Randolph-Macon College as Part of Dominion Solar Project
RICHMOND, Va., April 22, 2015– ViZn Energy Systems Inc. (ViZn), a leading provider of energy storage systems for microgrid and utility-scale applications, announces its advanced flow battery system has been installed at Randolph-Macon College to test utility integration with renewable generation. Randolph-Macon College is in partnership on a solar energy project with Dominion Resources, an East Coast utility provider and one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy.
“We are thrilled to work with Dominion and Randolph-Macon College to have our Zinc/iron redox battery as one of the two battery technologies included in the project to assess battery performance for both power and energy services,” said Ron Van Dell, president and CEO of ViZn Energy Systems, Inc.
Randolph-Macon College is a private, coeducational liberal arts and sciences college located north of Richmond, Virginia.
“One of the technical challenges associated with distributed solar power is the issue of intermittency, ”said Mary Doswell, senior vice president of Alternative Energy Solutions at Dominion. “We hope that by combining a solar and battery solution that Dominion and its partners can more fully understand the potential benefits to the grid and to our customers.”
The Z20 redox flow battery uses an abundantly available, non-toxic, nonflammable and low cost Zinc/iron chemistry. It has been designed with a water-based, two-phase flow system that consists of a zinc electrode and an iron redox counter electrode, a design that aids steady and safe operation. The Z20 offers one of the fastest charge and discharge responses on the market and can withstand significant temperature fluctuations and facilitate multiple discharge cycles each day. It is the most cost-effective flow battery system on the market today.