🎉Welcome to the first Aqueous Battery Brief of 2026.
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Adoption, Deals, and Tech
Rongke Power Delivers First Gigawatt-Hour Scale VFB
Hong Kong-based vanadium flow battery firm Rongke Power has delivered the world’s first vanadium flow battery deployment to reach the gigawatt-hour scale.
Now in operation, the Jimusaer Vanadium Flow Battery Energy Storage Project is integrated with a 1 GW photovoltaic power plant and provides a total installed capacity of 200 MW / 1,000 MWh – enabling up to five hours of continuous discharge.
Details in the news release.
EverZinc Acquired by Cerberus Capital
Global specialty zinc provider EverZinc has been acquired by investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Read the announcement.
ESS Names New CEO
Iron-flow LDES manufacturer ESS Tech, Inc. has appointed Drew Buckley as the firm’s new CEO. A longtime equity investor at William Blair, Buckley joined ESS last August to lead the company’s investor relations and capital market strategy.
Buckley replaces Interim CEO Kelly Goodman, who was made ESS’s Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel. ESS has also named Interim Chief Financial Officer Kate Suhadolnik as the permanent CFO. Details in the company press release.
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E-Zinc’s 2025
See e-Zinc‘s 2025 highlights, including a new CTO, new secured funding, and inclusion in the 2025 Global Cleantech 100 in the company’s year-end recap.
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Mark Your Calendars
ICYMI: Upcoming 2026 Aqueous Events
📆 Get a head start on 2026 planning with our Aqueous Energy Events Calendar in last week’s Aqueous Battery Brief.
Five Chances to Hear Octet
Catch the Octet team presenting at four events (so far) in 2026:
- NAATBatt 2026: Charging Innovation • Feb 9 – 12 / Tucson, Arizona, USA
- TechBlick: Batteries Reshaped 2026 • Feb 11 – 12 / Virtual Meeting
- International Battery Seminar & Exhibit • Mar 23 – 26 / Orlando, Florida, USA
- BCI Convention + Power Mart Expo • May 3 – 6 / Nashville, Tennessee, USA
We’ll see you soon.
Who’s Hiring
Seeking a new role – or know someone who is? Start with the quick links to aqueous firms’ open roles pages and specific roles below.
👩🔬 Open Roles Pages (Multiple Roles)
👨🔬 Specific Openings
- Urban Electric Power: Mechanical Engineer – Battery Cell & Module Development
- Ore Energy: Strategic Accounts Manager
Have a specific open position you’d like to highlight? Send us an e-mail.
Octet Case Study: Over $80M in Projected Gains
Learn how Octet Scientific uncovered the path to unprecedented growth for a single battery firm – made possible by 75 screened electrolytes.
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