RWE invests in Revolt

has invested €5.5m (£4.9m) in

, a Norwegian company that has developed a proprietary method for recharging zinc-air batteries.

The investment has been made as part of RWE’s venture capital strategy, giving the German energy company a minority stake in Revolt.

High-energy density zinc-air technology has so far been limited to non-rechargeable applications. Revolt’s technology breakthrough is said to open a variety of future markets from small to large-scale applications.

‘The promotion of renewable energies and the development of high-capacity storage technologies are inseparably linked,’ said Prof Fritz Vahrenholt, chief executive officer of RWE Innogy. ‘If we succeed in storing electricity from renewable sources during off-peak times to make it available during peak times, we will have made a quantum leap in terms of supply reliability. Zinc-air battery systems can make a vital contribution in this respect.’

‘Due to their high-energy density, zinc-air batteries could be used not only for electricity storage from wind and solar power, but also for electric vehicles,’ added Crispin Leick, director of RWE Innogy’s venture capital arm. ‘In contrast to lithium-ion rechargeable batteries commonly used today, zinc-air batteries are more powerful, cheaper to produce, safer and more benign to the environment.’