China energy storage player Weview raises $87m

The new capital will go towards the construction of multi-gigawatt-capacity factories in Zhuhai and efforts to further reduce the cost of battery-based energy storage. It follows a CNY 400m round last year provided by an investor group featuring Gaorong Capital, Green Pine Capital Partners, and ZhenFund.

Founded in 2018, Weview focuses on zinc-iron liquid flow batteries. They are regarded as highly suitable for energy storage because of their high energy density, long life span, and high scalability, as well as the low cost of metallic zinc. Notably, zinc-iron liquid flow batteries are described as cheaper and safer than lithium-ion batteries. 

The company's first smart production line, with a capacity of hundreds of megawatts, came into operation in January. The first gigawatt-capacity facility is scheduled to come online in mid-2023.

Energy storage is seen as essential to harnessing rapidly expanding yet unstable wind and solar power. However, some industry participants argue that batteries are not the best option for large-scale wind and solar projects. 

 

Chaowen Li, a director at Tsinghua Holdings Capital (TH Capital), told AVCJ in a previous interview that individual battery storage capacity is usually dozens of megawatts. The likes of CATL can build much larger projects, but they aren’t cheap and security and safety issues remain a concern. 

Moreover, although battery energy conversion rates are up to 90%, the lifecycle is relatively short – 8-10 years at most, with incremental deterioration in performance.

Last year, TH Capital led a CNY 320m pre-Series A round for Zhongchu Guoneng Technology, a specialist in compressed air energy storage.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Cleantech
• China
• Cleantech
• Gaorong Capital
• Green Pine Capital Partners
• ZhenFund