WEBSTER – On the vast Xerox campus here, Ashlawn Energy is ramping up production of its innovative battery technology, the fruits of nearly two decades of work by founder and president Norma Byron.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick off the manufacturing phase at the Webster facility the company moved to earlier this year, Byron said they intend to produce eight of the vanadium redox flow batteries every day. All of the engineering, battery testing and system assembly is done in-house.
“We think we have a great future here and that we’re poised to make four gigawatts of batteries a year with our current setup,” she said. “And with very little more investment we could easily double and triple that … We can grow right here on site and we’re very excited
about that.”
The vanadium redox flow batteries can be charged overnight, when electricity rates are lower, saving money and providing hours of energy throughout the day. Those batteries are on a building-scale, with Ashlawn Energy focusing on multi-family apartment buildings, hospitals and commercial and industrial facilities.
“If you don't have that one stranglehold of expensive electricity infrastructure - to be able to do it with inexpensive batteries - that has a really big impetus for future growth for the region,” Byron said.
As vanadium batteries are non-flammable, they can be stored in more locations, including indoors, than conventional lithium-ion batteries. The flexibility is a major benefit for customers in dense urban environments where there are fire restrictions on other battery types, on top of the savings.
“People can save in New York City, our beachhead market, up to 50% on their electric bills using this,” Byron said.
Moving from Vestal, Broome County, to the Rochester area allowed Ashlawn Energy the chance to tap into local resources like Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute of Sustainability.
“We like to say Rochester is a place where innovations are made here but felt everywhere and I think you’ve got a great opportunity to impact not just the grid in New York state but really across the world,” said Matt Hurlbutt, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise.
Ashlawn Energy was founded in 2008 by Byron, a former defense contractor with knowledge of hydrogen fuel cells. The company’s VanCharg batteries have a 30-year lifespan and an energy store duration of 4 to 14 hours.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Webster battery maker ramps up production at Xerox campus
