The two companies will work together to develop a flow battery which will use liquid bromine solution and hydrogen fuel as the reactants.
Areva will lead the project, manufacturing and installing the battery, with Schneider manufacturing and installing the power conversion system.
The technology will be based on an existing design by Israeli company EnStorage for a 50kW flow battery prototype. This will be optimised by Areva to create a 150kW demonstration system that will be tested "under real conditions", the company said.
Flow batteries use two liquid electrolytes rather than solid-state electrodes. The liquids are contained in separated tanks and flow through a cell stack, allowing the ions and electrons to move through a porous membrane in order to discharge and recharge the battery.
The project is funded by the European Union through the KIC InnoEnergy FlowBox programme aimed at encouraging technological innovation in the renewable energy sector.
Areva and Schneider announced in February they would work on the development of a hydrogen fuel-cell energy storage system also designed to to compliment renewable energy generation.
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