ZBB Agile Flow Battery Receives Key Third Party Performance Validation

MILWAUKEE, WI--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2015) - ZBB Energy Corporation (NYSE MKT: ZBB), a leading developer of innovative energy management systems solutions serving the utility, commercial and industrial building markets, announced today the successful third party validation of its breakthrough Agile Flow Battery specifically designed for behind the meter energy storage applications in the commercial and industrial building market. The independent third party validation was performed at one of the world's top battery and grid power control products testing facilities, in Beijing, China. The Agile Flow Battery has been engineered based upon ZBB's industry leading flow battery design expertise, its breadth of real world application data derived from dozens of installations, and stringent lab testing at ZBB and Meineng Energy, ZBB's China joint venture company. The Agile Flow Battery enables a large amount of energy to be deployed from a relatively small footprint, and is designed for the lowest life cycle cost available for applications requiring more than 2 hours of discharged energy.

The commercial validation of the Agile Flow Battery by an independent 3rd party was the culmination of a product development program that began in July 2014 and utilized concurrent engineering, procurement, assembly and testing between ZBB Energy and Meineng Energy. The validation measured a large number of performance parameters, including maximum capacity, rated capacity, on-line self-discharge, safety, efficiency, and state of charge accuracy. The Agile Flow Battery met or exceeded performance targets for the product, including a rated energy capacity of 55.7kWh vs. target of 50kWh at rated charge of 16.5kW and rated discharge of 12.5kW. Maximum energy capacity was more than 57kWh. The battery notably delivered 46.9kWh of energy after 12 hours of operating in idle mode with pumps, motors and fans being on and electrolyte circulating, exhibiting excellent on-line self-discharge performance. Maximum state of charge inaccuracy over the 0-100-0% charge/discharge cycle was 3.15% and 0.73% on average. Cycle to cycle energy discharge variability was a very repeatable ~0.5kWh, max-min. The DC efficiency of the eight battery arrays in the Agile were measured at an average of ~75%. Safety parameters of noise and hydrogen evolution were also measured, both passing local safety specifications. Noise was < 71dB one meter from the battery while operating. Peak hydrogen evolution inside the battery cabinet was 0% of the lower explosive limit (LEL) and was 13% of LEL inside the tanks during 18 hours of running, well under the 25% government specification of 25% of LEL.