Invinity Energy Systems has been enlisted to design and deliver the world’s largest flow battery, for a data centre project in Switzerland currently under construction by Flexbase.
Flexbase has elected Invinity as its strategic partner for the data centre-plus-vanadium redox flow battery storage (VRFB) project in Laufenberg, Switzerland, the companies announced today (21 May).
Marcel Aumer, Flexbase founder, chairman and CEO, said that Invinity presented the most compelling overall package in a competitive solicitation with the lowest life-cycle costs (LCOS), and that its VRFB technology is suitable for the project thanks to its non-flammability, cycle stability and flexibility in application. CIO Pascal Wyss added that they liked its “modular solutions perfectly tailored to Flexbase”.
The engineering phase can now begin, with technical experts from all companies involved working on the detailed integration of the storage system. Once that is complete, production of the optimised battery modules will be commissioned to ensure that operations can begin on schedule. Local companies Equans Switzerland AG and Georg Fischer AG are project partners for the project.
Until this project, the only truly large-scale flow battery projects under construction in the world have been in China. Flow battery projects there are built largely on site, which is possible thanks to lower labour costs than elsewhere. Flow battery projects in Europe and the US meanwhile need to be comprised of modular units built in a factory, in order to be cost-competitive.
Flexbase first announced the project in late 2024, and got construction approval for it a year later.
Speaking to Energy-Storage.news last month, Flexbase’s Aumer said that at the time the company was still in discussion with the potential supplier, but he could share details on the project configuration.
“It’s vertically designed, so the tanks will take a separate floor, as will the stacks. This is due to the limited floor area (12,000 sqm per floor). Construction has already started with core and shell,” Aumer said, shortly after the company announced the start of construction on the project.
“However, to integrate the battery it will take more progress and it will be a rolling process of equiping and building construction because of the huge size of the tanks,” he added.
Invinity recently completed deliveries of its modules for a 20.7MWh project in the UK, the largest flow battery project in the country.
We recently looked at flow battery technologies and why (at the time of writing) they might not yet have taken off at large scale outside of China, for an ESN Premium feature.
