British Grid-Battery Company RFCPower Closes £10m Series A and Rebrands as Certain Energy

Certain Energy, the British long-duration energy storage company, led by Tim Von Werne and the team, has announced it has received £10m Series A funding for its pioneering manganese flow battery technology. The investment will be used to commercialise Certain Energy’s technology and prepare it for deployment to stabilise grids and provide power during periods of low renewables production. The funding round, led by the British Business Bank with participation from Centrica plc (“Centrica”), Ceres Power Holdings plc (“Ceres”) and Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (“C3H”), will support Certain Energy as it scales its technology for volume production.  This will include the development of a grid-connected MWh-class system in India, expansion of its research facility in the UK, and the creation of the supply chain needed to deliver replicable projects.

Certain Energy Executive Chair Mark Selby said the renewable power market is constrained by grid volatility and the need to curtail generation during periods of high production. The UK spent around £1.5 billion on renewable curtailment last year, with costs potentially reaching £8 billion annually by 2030.

Certain Energy aims to address the problem with long-duration energy storage, developing efficient, affordable batteries based on abundant materials.

Michael Shanks, Minister of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said the investment supports UK innovation in long-duration energy storage. The £3.5 million investment from the British Business Bank will help Certain Energy develop technology capable of storing clean power for days rather than hours, strengthening energy security and grid reliability.

Formerly known as RFC Power, Certain Energy is a UK-based long-duration energy storage company founded in 2017 as a spin-off from Imperial College London. The company develops battery storage systems designed to capture excess renewable energy, stabilize electricity grids, reduce energy waste, and provide reliable clean power when needed, reducing reliance on gas peaker plants.

Certain Energy’s flow batteries use manganese, one of the most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust. Storage duration can be extended from hours to days simply by increasing the size of the electrolyte tanks, offering greater flexibility than conventional battery systems.

The technology delivers more than 75% round-trip efficiency and is designed for a 20-year operating life with minimal capacity degradation. Its patented electrolyte and low-cost materials could also bring marginal storage costs down to around one-tenth of comparable vanadium flow batteries and below those of lithium-ion systems.

Certain Energy CEO Tim von Werne said long-duration energy storage is a critical missing component of the clean energy system, with manganese flow batteries offering a promising path forward. The British Business Bank’s backing provides capital to scale the technology and build a global energy storage company from UK-developed technology.

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