Taken from Innovation News Network, written on the 13th September 2025

Elestor emphasises the necessity of ensuring supply meets the demand for long-duration electricity storage to achieve energy security in a geopolitically unstable world.

To balance the world’s emerging renewable energy systems, we will need large-scale, long-duration, scalable, and affordable flow batteries.

The role of such solar-wind-energy storage systems is to deliver on many fronts, as we set out to simultaneously improve air quality and thus public health, combat climate change, generate inclusive economic growth, and deliver energy resilience and security.

Adapting to changing geopolitical landscapes

Elestor started its search for a solution back in 2014, aiming squarely at the exact point where science meets economics. A decade or so later, we have added geopolitical realities to the equation to prevent energy from being weaponised in a geopolitically unstable world.

This change in focus was motivated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The demand side was instantly jolted by the growing realisation that a clean, robust and self-reliant energy system mattered, not just as a tool to combat climate change but also in terms of energy security.

Suddenly, there was an even greater urgency than before the invasion. We witnessed the emergence of a new hunger for energy autonomy along with the growing realisation that what we need now is the ability to construct independent, resilient and clean energy systems, swiftly and at affordable prices, anywhere in the world.

Fortunately, we were already exploring a new, iron-clad solution. As a result, we have developed the Elestor hydrogen-iron flow battery.

Real-world advantages

We have long known that energy systems based on renewables, such as solar and wind power, need large-scale, long-duration storage. The electricity generated on sunny and windy days must be stored until it is needed, when the sun doesn’t shine and there is no wind.

Such storage must be available everywhere, which is why our hydrogen-iron technology offers the best solution. Iron, or rather the iron sulfate, can be found everywhere, also in landlocked countries far from the ocean.

The hydrogen-iron flow battery comes with several real-world advantages.

The chemicals can never be scarce; hence, the chemicals can never be expensive. These two are connected. With iron sulfate, we can store electricity at a cost of €50/MWh. This cost can be achieved, even though iron is a less reactive electrolyte than some alternatives and thus will require some five times as many cells to achieve the same power, and in spite of the need for larger tanks for the electrolyte.

Consequently, hydrogen-iron flow batteries are highly competitive when compared with alternative electricity storage systems that can cost six to ten times as much.

In addition, iron is safe and easy to store, transport and handle, eliminating the need for expensive and polluting forever-plastics to contain the materials, as is the case with some other flow battery solutions.

As iron is a relatively benign material with no vapour risk, it can be stored in simpler and cheaper tanks than other electrolytes. Consequently, the tanks require a smaller safety belt around them, which in turn means the larger tanks do not pose a problem.

Indeed, these tanks can even be buried underground, and with atmospheric pressure, hydrogen tanks can be placed on top of them, so the overall system will not require more land than alternative solutions.

Lower costs and greater safety are persuasive arguments at the local and national levels, but the greatest impact of solar and wind-powered energy systems incorporating hydrogen-iron flow batteries is their potential as a force that will democratise energy.

Access to energy is an essential driver of economic growth and poverty reduction. A clean energy system is vital as we seek to decarbonise our economies to combat climate change and air pollution. Energy security is an absolute requirement for all countries that seek to coexist in peace and harmony, and key to this is a reduced reliance on fossil fuel imports from hostile nations.

Elestor is now ready to deliver real-world solutions to all these societal challenges. The impact of implementing them will make the world a better place.