Elestor prepares for growth with appointment of Hylke van Bennekom as COO

Elestor prepares for growth with appointment of Hylke van Bennekom as COO

Arnhem, April 12, 2021

Elestor strengthens its senior management by appointing Hylke van Bennekom (MSc MBA) as Chief Operating Officer. With this expansion, Elestor is well positioned to scale and automate the production of their hydrogen bromine flow battery. Hylke will also join as investor via a management buy-in.

The energy transition is clearly progressing. With European and local climate plans coming into place, the generation of renewable energy will only increase. To integrate renewables into the energy system, the need for cost-effective long-term storage will become even more essential. The hydrogen-bromine flow battery technology of Elestor will provide this needed low-cost storage of electricity.

Ready for scaling up

Elestor was founded in 2014 by Wiebrand Kout (CTO): “The initial 5 years focused on fundamental research and engineering. After that we did extensive testing and field pilots to validate and adapt our solution. Now we are excited to scale-up the technology and our impact.”

“By introducing a COO we can accelerate the transition from the current inhouse stack assembly to a fully automated production plant and define the supply chain strategy. Scaling and automation both contribute to reducing the system cost and further reduce the cost of storage,” says Guido Dalessi (CEO).

Hylke van Bennekom (COO) comments: “I’m thrilled that after my operational experiences in the semiconductor and solar industries, I joined Elestor to have an even more direct impact on the energy transition. I am looking forward to join the team at this pivoting point and become part of what is now our joint journey to bringing sustainable and cost-effective energy storage solutions within reach.”

About Elestor

Elestor BV offers electricity storage systems for industrial use based on the Hydrogen Bromine Flow Battery principle. With its unique and patented design, Elestor has matured flow battery technology into a robust and highly scalable product, featuring storage costs per kWh far beyond what is achieved with conventional batteries. Elestor has been recognized with several (inter)national Awards, such as the European IDTechEx award for ‘Best Development in Storage Technology’, juried by Fraunhofer Institute, Technical University Berlin and Toyota Motors Europe. Early January 2021, Elestor was granted the ‘INNOVATION 2020 Audience Award’ by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.