Battery tech firm Red-T raises €900,000 in funding

16 Dec 2011

A Dublin-based flow battery technology company called Red-T has just raised €900,000 in funding led by AIB Seed Capital Fund, Dublin BIC, Enterprise Ireland and its CEO.

Clontarf-headquartered Red-T has an R&D facility in Reading, England. The company has developed a unique battery technology.

RED-T’s technology is a Vanadium-based flow battery which enables the cheap and efficient storage of electrical energy in liquid form.  The technology has a variety of applications, including mobile masts, electric vehicles and renewable energy power stations.

The company says its technology represents a paradigm shift in energy storage, and ultimately, the complete displacement of conventional fossil fuel power with renewable generation.

Because the technology relies on the reaction of different valence forms of the same element, Vanadium, the system has unlimited life, with a long cycle life between component replacement (about 10,000 full cycles).

This enables the sustainable storage of energy, and for the first time ever, provides the ability for an energy user to completely shift to renewable power sources.

Red-T is targeting a market valued at US$6.8bn

The initial markets for the system will be the remote power and communications market, which is valued at an estimated $6.8bn. Initial customers for the system are located worldwide, including in Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ukraine, Russian federation, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and The Philippines.

John Ward, CEO and co-founder of RED-T, said: “This investment in RED-T is a very significant milestone, we intend to recruit highly skilled engineers and sales professionals to enable us to further strengthen our core offering and build market share in key international markets.”

Scott McGregor, RED-T director and CEO of CAMCO, the majority shareholder of RED-T, added: “This round of financing is a major step towards commercialising the technology to provide a low-cost solution to industry; we welcome our new shareholding partners.

“Low-cost fuel storage is a critical solution if the world is to fully utilise clean energy to address climate change.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com