The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has increased its investment in new battery storage technology.

The CEFC has increased its stake in Relectrify, investing a further $2.5 million to lead the company’s Series A equity raising.

Relectrify has just launched its Battery Management System (BMS) +Inverter technology, which it says could increase battery storage time by as much as a third and reduce costs by up to half compared to existing market-leading battery offerings.

It uses cell-level battery management to provide a very high-efficiency AC output without requiring a costly inverter.

Relectrify’s BMS+Inverter is already in operation including in a grid storage pilot with Nissan North America and American Electric Power (AEP), a leading US power company with more than 5 million customers.

CEFC Innovation Fund director Ben Gust welcomed the positive response from the market to Relectrify’s technology.

“Relectrify’s BMS has broad application because it can extend the performance of a wide range of battery types across industrial, residential and grid storage, and in new or used batteries,” Mr Gust said.

“It offers battery and inverter makers additional lifetime and performance from cells and the potential to reduce the cost of the components needed to build battery systems.”