Aquion Energy Wins Deal With Bakken Hale Off-Grid Residential Estate In Hawaii To Supply 1 MWh AHI Battery

The noted battery startup Aquion Energy recently inked a deal with an off-grid residential estate in Hawaii for the supply of one of its 1 MWh patented Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) batteries, as per recent reports.

This battery will, reportedly, be combined with the Bakken Hale estate’s 176 kW solar PV system to provide for all (or almost all) of its electricity use — allowing for a completely off-grid setup.

This microgrid system is being developed on the Kona Coast of the Big Island by Renewable Energy Services. While, ideally, all of the estate’s electricity will come from the solar PV + battery system, there will be a propane-fueled generator installed as emergency backup power.

The setup of the new system will work via the Aquion AHI battery system being charged on an 8-hour cycle during the daylight hours, and then discharging over a 16-hour cycle. According to Aquion, its batteries are ideally suited for long-duration charge/discharge cycles such as this.

“The Bakken Hale project is the first of several very large microgrid projects we plan to supply using our M-Line Battery Modules,” commented Aquion’s CEO Scott Pearson. “We look forward to working with RES to install this system and showcase our capabilities to the Hawaiian market.”

Medtronic — the owner of the Bakken Hale estate — has made noted that the PV + battery-storage set-up will allow the estate to reduce its fossil-fuel usage by up to ~97%.

The company’s founder, Earl Bakken, commented thusly: “I want to demonstrate that using a solar and battery-powered micro-grid is our best solution now. This installation will enable us to meet our around-the-clock power needs with solar generation.”

The announcement of this supply deal follows relatively recently on the company’s most recent venture capital funding round — which saw ~$25 million in new venture capital funding raised.

As per what’s been revealed publicly, Aquion Energy currently possesses the capacity to manufacture 200 MWh of batteries annually — with the stated aim being to expand this production capacity to 1 GWh in the near future.

Related: $1 Billion: Annual US Solar + Storage Market In 2018

Image Credit: Aquion Energy