Earlier this month, California-based flow battery developer Quino Energy received $10 million in investment funding from India-based Atri Energy Transition to establish production in India for its electrolyte formulation to be used in long-duration energy storage (LDES) applications. The agreement also provides for an additional $6 million if needed.
Atri’s interest in Quino’s flow battery technology reflects LDES requirements in the dense urban environments of India’s populous cities, which is the intended market. Frankly, fire-avoidance is a major concern for batteries that are to be located in multi-unit city housing, hospitals and commercial and industrial operations. Quino’s electrolyte comes with essentially no fire risk.
Unlike lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries typically use a non-flammable electrolyte that is mostly water with a greater or lesser percentage of other elements, depending on the formulation. Quino’s flow battery electrolyte is based on quinone and is largely sourced from chemicals used in textile dyes, even from wastewater used in commercial processes.
Eugene Beh, co-founder and CEO of Quino Energy, told pv magazine USA that the Atri deal is an example of a technology solving a practical problem.
“I think Atri’s consideration is pretty straightforward: The raw material that we use is a dye for clothes and other commercial products,” Beh said. “Wherever there’s a textile industry we have access to abundant and inexpensive materials for our electrolytes. A lot of clothes are made in India.”
Beh says his company’s patented quinone electrolyte formulation replaces vanadium in flow batteries, an element that is expensive and can be difficult to source. Quino produces electrolyte in the United States at a facility near Buffalo, N.Y., operated by its partner, Electrosynthesis Company. He expects Quino’s deal with Atri will lead to expanded U.S. production of its electrolyte.
If flow batteries, which are based on a long-established technology, have only recently been considered as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, this line of argument has been complicated the drastic cost reductions of the latter. Ramped up production of lithium-ion batteries worldwide and the promise of “gigafactories” in the U.S. may have lessened the cost argument for flow batteries.
However, the fire issue remains. And while lithium-ion battery supplies and cell manufacturers go to great length to demonstrate the fire safety of their products, many, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, are looking for potentially safer and even less expensive alternatives. Perception can create its own reality, and government regulations may specify the scale, location and approved technologies for battery energy storage.
According to Beh, one of the important aspects of Atri’s investment in Quino is that it will result in actual deployments of flow batteries in Indian cities, helping to build the use case for flow batteries elsewhere, including the U.S.
“Even with developers who install lithium-ion batteries on a regular basis quite frequently don’t know what flow batteries are,” Beh said. “And then I tell them, ‘Hey, it’s actually a pretty mature battery that’s completely non -flammable.’ And then you see the gears start turning in their heads, and they tell you about the projects they had to give up.”
Earlier in 2025, Quino was awarded $10 million in grant funding from the California Energy Commission for an 8 MWh flow battery project at a regional health center, designed to provide critical emergency backup power and resilience. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Energy provided a $5 million grant to support the development of its manufacturing process.
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