Invinity subsidiary enters battery development deal with Siemens Gamesa

Infinity Energy announced on Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Invinity Energy Nexus has entered into a joint development and commercialisation agreement with Gamesa Electric, a subsidiary of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

The AIM-traded firm said the agreement would see the joint development of a grid-scale vanadium flow battery (VFB), based on Invinity's technology and incorporating Gamesa Electric's power conversion systems.

It would also see the two companies “cooperatively manufacture” the VFB on achieving a jointly validated design, and commercialise the VFB through each company's sales channels.

The company said the agreement set out a “detailed development programme” for the VFB that was expected to take about two years to reach commercialisation.

Over that period, Gamesa Electric agreed to fund $4.62m (£3.27m) of Invinity's activities within the joint development programme, payable as development milestones are met.

The agreement could be terminated by Gamesa Electric should there be a failure to advance through development stages.

In addition to the joint activities, each company would independently advance their core technology to support programme deliverables.

Invinity said itself and Gamesa Electric had also entered into an option agreement, granting Gamesa or its nominee within the Siemens Gamesa group an option for 9.99% of Invinity's issued share capital at £1.75 per share - the same price as Invinity's most recent placing in December.

If the option were to be exercised, Gamesa Electric or its nominee would have the right to appoint a director to Invinity's board, subject to it maintaining a minimum 5% shareholding in Invinity.

The ability to exercise the option remained subject to shareholder approval, the board said.

“We are delighted to enter into this joint development and commercialisation agreement with Gamesa Electric,” said chief executive officer Larry Zulch.

“Delivering a next-generation VFB to meet the need for safe, dependable and economical energy storage requires deep expertise in both energy technology development and commercialization, making Gamesa Electric an ideal partner for us in that effort.

“We appreciate this validation of VFB's potential and the implications for our existing products.”

At 0946 BST, shares in Invinity Energy Systems were up 29.96% at 159.85p.