Rolls-Royce acquires energy storage firm

Rolls-Royce will hold a 73.1% majority stake in Berlin-based electricity storage specialist Qinous GmbH from 15 January 2020. The Group is acquiring the shareholdings of all other current financial investors, including that of investment holdings company IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (Berlin). The founding shareholders will continue to hold shares in the company and will retain their current roles in the business.

Rolls-Royce had already acquired a 19.9% stake in the former start-up back in October 2018. The company is involved in battery storage systems and associated control systems, and has already implemented storage solutions around the world.

“Our new subsidiary is to play a pivotal role going forward,” said Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems Division. “This is where we are going to pool all the division's microgrid activities – from simple storage solutions to complete, complex microgrid solutions of various sizes and configurations. As a young, start-up-style company, Qinous brings expertise that is an ideal complement to Rolls-Royce's industrial credentials. Together we will be able to respond quickly and with great professionalism to the demands of the market,” he continued.

The joint development work on a range of storage solutions in recent months has shown that the two companies are an excellent fit and, as Schell explained, “that we can achieve new market potential by integrating more closely. We see great market potential for sustainable power supplies, especially for distributed, environmentally-friendly MTU microgrid solutions."

Qinous supplies modular, scalable, prefabricated plug-and-play battery products that combine renewable energy sources, power generators and battery storage technology.

The modular component system of the coordinated Qinous/MTU product range will in future allow the configuration of solutions from 30 kW/30kWh to several megawatts. Qinous employs around 40 people in Berlin. Rolls-Royce is engaged in research and development of microgrids and power generators at four locations: Friedrichshafen, Ruhstorf, Augsburg and Mankato (US).