Pu Neng, formerly Prudent Energy, has secured a major investment from High Power Exploration (HPX) to accelerate development of its advanced Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB).
The undisclosed investment from the Canada-based metals-focused exploration company HPX has increased the overall capital Pu Neng raised so far to more than $90m.
Pu Neng is expected to benefit and grow from HPX’s financial resources and management experience.
HPX president Eric Finlayson said: "China not only has the world's leading vanadium battery technology in Pu Neng but it has the world's highest-quality vanadium resources.
“By integrating the two, China and Pu Neng will be key contributors in the global transition to a clean energy economy."
Pu Neng claims to possess the world’s most advanced flow battery technology which includes proprietary membrane, cell stack designs and electrolyte.
According to the Chinese firm, vanadium flow batteries are different from other types of batteries as they utilize the same electrolyte solution on the positive and negative side of the battery. Through this, the flow batteries give out repeatable chemical process for an infinite period.
The Chinese company also claims that its VRB technology batteries do not wear out in spite of being fully drained during countless number of charge and discharge cycles. This, the company says is what makes the technology crucial in meeting the daily needs of utility-scale solar and wind power generation.
Pu Neng has appointed Mianyan Huang as the new president of the company’s operations in China.
Huang said: "With this HPX investment, we are now well positioned to deliver a number of large-scale projects, including several projects in central China and overseas that are connected to grid-scale solar and wind farms, as well as microgrids that will help to electrify rural China and alleviate poverty."
Recently, the company’s 8MWh VRB system installed at State Grid of China's solar-wind-storage project in Zhangbei has been tested and approved by the world's largest electric utility company. Pu Neng has also recently launched a new Gen2 Vanadium Redox Battery Energy Storage System (VRB-ESS) product.