Market and product

Two microgrid projects announced in June 2026 illustrate the growing presence of flow batteries in real-world local grid systems: one on Himandhoo Island in the Maldives using a water-based organic flow battery, and one on the lands of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians in Northern California, which pairs a zinc hybrid cathode battery with lithium-ion storage within a single microgrid system.

What is a flow battery? Unlike conventional batteries (such as lithium-ion), which store energy in solid electrodes inside the cell itself, a flow battery stores energy in two separate tanks of liquid electrolyte. When electricity is needed, the two liquids are pumped through an electrochemical reaction chamber, where oxidation-reduction reactions between them generate a current. When recharging, the process reverses. The key advantage of flow batteries is that storage capacity is completely independent of power output: to store more energy, you simply enlarge the electrolyte tanks without replacing the whole system. They also tend to have longer lifespans and degrade less over repeated charge-discharge cycles than lithium-ion batteries. The main drawbacks are lower energy density and higher upfront cost, making them better suited to large-scale, stationary storage applications — such as microgrids and utility grids — than to electric vehicles or portable devices.

Organic Flow Battery Makes Its First Commercial International Deployment in the Maldives

On 24 June 2026, US flow battery startup Quino Energy was selected by Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent to receive a grant under its CarbonX program, supporting development of a MWh-scale water-based organic flow battery system on Himandhoo Island in the Maldives.

The battery system will be integrated into a microgrid that also includes a floating solar PV array financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project sits within the framework of the POISED initiative (Preparing Outer Islands for Sustainable Energy Development) — a program currently deploying solar and lithium-ion battery systems across approximately 160 Maldivian islands, with the goal of transitioning them from full dependence on diesel generators to hybrid systems combining renewable energy with diesel backup, reducing electricity costs, cutting emissions, and lowering government subsidy requirements.

For Himandhoo specifically, the immediate aim is to reduce reliance on imported diesel fuel for power generation. The flow battery will serve as the energy storage component, helping maintain a reliable power supply during extreme weather events or periods of fluctuating electricity demand.

On the operational side, Atri Energy Transition — which led Quino Energy's Series A funding round in October 2025 — will collaborate on manufacturing the proprietary organic electrolyte in Pune, India, and will provide operations and maintenance support for the battery system for at least five years following commissioning. The flow battery hardware will be supplied by Chinese redox flow battery manufacturer Suqian Time Energy Storage.
This is described as Quino Energy's first international commercial deployment of its organic flow battery technology. Earlier, in April 2025, the company received a US$10 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) for an 8 MWh flow battery project in Lancaster, California — identified at the time as the technology's first US commercial deployment. Quino Energy has also received US$5 million from the US Department of Energy's Critical Facility Energy Resilience (CiFER) program to support a separate 5 MWh flow battery system in Southern California.

The Paskenta Tribe Pursues Grid Independence With a Dual-Battery Microgrid in California

On 16 June 2026, the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians — a federally recognized sovereign nation based in the Corning area of Northern California — announced a partnership with Open Access Technology International (OATI) to deploy a two-site solar and battery storage microgrid system.

The project, which began construction in 2024, combines 4.5 MW of solar generation with 21 MWh of battery storage across two microgrid sites, designed to allow the tribal community to operate completely independently of the public utility grid during outages or periods of regional grid instability.

The technical highlight of the project is its dual-battery configuration. Lithium-ion batteries (supplied by Elm) handle rapid response and power quality functions when the system islands from the grid, while a long-duration energy storage (LDES) system using zinc hybrid cathode technology from Eos Energy Enterprises serves as a deep-reserve resource for extended outages or when the microgrid operates independently for cost management. Solar modules are provided by domestic manufacturer Heliene. According to the project developer, the Eos zinc system was chosen partly for its domestic manufacturing capability at a time of supply chain uncertainty, and partly for its superior round-trip efficiency compared with some other flow battery technologies — an important factor when assessing usable capacity per dollar of investment.OAT

I was selected through a competitive procurement process as the microgrid controls engineer, responsible for controls system design, sequence drafting, and implementing the management system for both battery assets under all operating conditions and contingencies. OATI's GridMind controller will allow the two microgrid sites to operate together or independently, in line with the tribe's longer-term plan to establish a tribal-owned independent utility.

Context: A Vulnerable Grid and the Drive for Energy Self-Determination

The Paskenta tribe's decision to invest in a microgrid stems from two parallel challenges: volatile electricity costs and wildfire-related infrastructure risk. The regional grid, managed by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), is under pressure from multiple directions — aging infrastructure, unprecedented demand growth, and the costs of undergrounding power lines as a wildfire risk mitigation measure, which are typically passed through to ratepayers.

The Paskenta community sits at the northern edge of the Sacramento River Valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides — a geographic position that makes it a natural refuge and staging point during regional emergencies. In 2018, when wildfires devastated communities to the north and east, Paskenta served as a deployment hub for resources from the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and FEMA. That experience contributed to the project's successful bid for competitive grant funding under FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

According to tribal leadership, the project's ultimate goal goes beyond reducing electricity bills: it is about creating the conditions for 20-year planning horizons on community investments — job creation, housing, healthcare facilities — in an environment where energy costs are predictable and grid infrastructure is not vulnerable to external risks. The tribe employs nearly 1,000 people in the local area and operates a range of businesses including Rolling Hills Clinic, Rolling Hills Casino & Resort, Paskenta Mad River Brewing, and the Tepa Companies group.