Certain Energy Raises GBP 10 Million to Scale Manganese Flow Batteries

Certain Energy raised GBP 10 million in Series A funding to commercialise its manganese flow-battery technology, including a grid-connected MWh-scale system in India.

Spun out of Imperial College in 2017 and formerly known as RFC Power, the company designs flow batteries whose discharge duration can be extended by increasing electrolyte-tank capacity, targeting storage from hours to days.

Higher renewable penetration increases the need for power during low-generation periods, but emerging storage must demonstrate efficiency, lifetime, material supply, safety, maintenance and whole-life cost together.

The British Business Bank led the round, with Centrica, Ceres Power and Temasek Trust's C3H among participants. Funds are intended for UK research expansion, a replicable project supply chain and the India deployment.

The company reports round-trip efficiency above 75 percent and potential marginal storage costs near one-tenth of comparable vanadium flow batteries. Commercial operating data, test boundaries and independent verification are still needed.

If manganese flow batteries sustain performance and cost advantages over long durations, they could complement lithium-ion systems in grid services. Closing a financing round is not evidence that large-scale technology validation is complete.

SNN editorial analysis: Taiwan grid and renewable-energy developers should bind battery chemistry, efficiency curves, degradation, warranties, fire controls, material origin and dispatch records. Portability from a demonstration must be tested with comparable evidence.

Next milestones include the India system's capacity, grid-connection date, continuous performance, delivered cost, supply contracts and independent test data.