BioLargo, Inc., a cleantech innovator and full-service environmental engineering company whose products address challenges to environmental and human health, has announced its acquisition of a proprietary sodium-sulfur battery technology. With a strategic focus on advancing technologies that address challenges in the water-energy nexus, the Company has identified this sodium-sulfur battery technology as a high-value solution that has a series of features that set it apart from currently available battery technologies in the market.
BioLargo has formed and secured initial seed capital for BioLargo Energy Technologies, Inc. (“BETI”), a subsidiary designed to address the ongoing shift toward renewable energy production and the growth in global electricity demand, and the consequent drastic expansion in energy storage capacity in the US and world-wide that will be needed to accommodate increased demand and the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
BETI will lead the manufacturing, scale-up, and operations for the sodium-sulfur battery technology with the help of one of the technology’s original developers, who has joined BETI. Batteries built based on the underlying technology a decade ago demonstrated features that far surpass comparable lithium-ion batteries, the dominant incumbent technology in the market:
- This sodium-sulfur battery technology demonstrates increased safety, no runaway fire risks, and a more sustainable design – with no rare-earth elements – that is capable of being manufactured completely from the domestic supply chain.
- Unlike lithium-ion batteries, BioLargo’s battery can charge and discharge completely, with no degradation of performance, ensuring virtually unlimited charge/discharge cycles.
- BioLargo’s battery technology also demonstrates increased energy efficiency and energy density in comparison to lithium-ion batteries, and a longer useful life expectancy of at least ten years.
BioLargo’s battery operates at a higher temperature and has relatively heavier casing as compared to lithium-ion batteries, making it well suited for bringing superior performance to stationary applications like electric vehicle charging stations, grid-scale energy storage, and commercial and residential storage.
Randall Moore, President of BioLargo’s engineering subsidiary BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies commented, “This battery presents an elegant and realistic solution to the global need for safe, cost-effective long-term energy storage in light of increasingly unstable power grids. The connections our engineering team has fostered over our careers in the energy sector will no doubt be invaluable in our efforts to bring it to market. We believe the features of the battery will compete well against lithium as well as other novel battery technologies.”
BioLargo’s President and CEO Dennis P. Calvert elaborated on the battery’s place in BioLargo’s portfolio of technologies, “It is a natural fit with our other technologies as well as our business model as we invent, prove, and partner our way to commercial success. While we are now enjoying substantial and rising commercial success, which was hard-fought, as our innovation process is and has been continual, like a conveyor belt that keeps moving down the line producing high value solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems. Much of our specialized work for hire, like our waste-to-energy projects, nuclear fuel handling system design work, as well as our water technologies, all highlight energy efficiency. A safe, sustainable battery energy storage technology is not just a thematic fit for us – it is also a literal fit to complement our work around the world. We are especially thankful to have Mario Caja join our team and lead the effort to prepare the battery for commercialization. And we look forward to working with and through channel partners to commercialize the battery and help transition the world to renewable energy.”
BioLargo’s focus on the water-energy nexus – the intersection of water infrastructure and the energy grid – reflects the Company’s commitment to creating high-impact solutions that address critical environmental and human wellness challenges. The acquisition of this novel sodium-sulfur battery technology demonstrates the Company’s determination to drive positive change while creating value for shareholders.