H2, Inc., secures $15M funding to rollout flow battery projects globally

DAEJEON, South Korea, Oct. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- H2, Inc., an industry-leading South Korean flow battery manufacturer has recently finalized securing $15 million in series B funding. This round includes capitals from impact investor groups such as Envisioning Partners and BeHigh Investment along with other investment firms such as BTC Investment, EN Investment and NH Hedge Asset Management. This round also includes follow-up investment from its existing shareholders as well. Since its establishment in 2010, H2 has successfully raised an accumulated investment totaling $38 million up to date.    

The newly funded capital will be used to expand manufacturing capacity and automation currently needed to proceed with the large-scale flow battery energy storage projects domestic and overseas in its pipeline. H2 plans for a 330MWh production capacity in the 1st phase of its near-term capacity expansion.

This investment will help spur H2's expansion into important overseas market such as the US and other regions. In order to prepare for overseas market entry, H2 has recently secured UL certification (UL 1973) for its cell stack model 5266. A cell stack ("stack") is a key component in a flow battery system that determines the power(kW) during charge/discharge of the battery system, like an engine in an automobile. The UL 1973 certification requires the stack components to undergo months of numerous tests to pass the strict safety standards. The certification of H2's stack provides assurance to the customers that the products will be equipped with key reliable H2 technology that conform to the highest safety standard.

The stack technology is currently in use for its 20ft container type EnerFLOW430 (270kWh) and cabinet type EnerFLOW330 (50kWh). EnerFLOW430 is embedded with proprietary 'FLEXMODULE' technology which enables various duration options from 4 to 10 hours in a standardized modular product. EnerFLOW330 is a cabinet type product focused on high efficiency with H2's 'HYPERBOOST' technology allowing 5~10% higher efficiency compared to conventional flow batteries.

In 2020 late last year, EnerFLOW430 was commissioned in a power plant facility run by Korea East-West Power (EWP) Co. in Ulsan, South Korea, one of the largest state-run IPP. A capacity of 1.1MWh EnerFLOW430 system was co-located with a 400kW PV power plant. The site has been successfully operated since its commissioning providing economic benefits to EWP under the REC (renewable energy credit) scheme. It is currently the only commercially operating non-lithium battery installation running under the REC scheme in Korea.

Along with build-up of successful domestic installation cases, H2 has been consistently preparing for overseas market entry such as the US. The US market is currently the world's largest energy storage market, especially in the long-duration market sectors with many energy storage project opportunities. California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) has recently mandated a 1GW long-duration energy storage by 2026 to prepare for the 100% renewable energy transition by 2045 and the continuous reduction of natural gas power plant. This mandate requires at least an 8-hour storage duration which would be equivalent to a minimum 8GWh storage demand in just a 5-year period. 8-hour duration would be a great business opportunity for flow batteries which are good fit for long-duration storages technically and economically.

"H2 has been preparing step-by-step for significant market growth, with UL certification and commercial track records in collaboration with large power producers such as EWP. With the recent round of fundraising, we are now able to expand our capacity to proceed with large-scale projects to aggressively enter key overseas markets such as the US, especially California where long-duration storage markets are expected to grow exponentially" said Dr. Shin Han, Founder and CEO of H2.

SOURCE H2, Inc.