Vanadium flow battery hopeful edges closer to Australian manufacture

Western Australia based long duration energy storage hopeful Avess is a step closer to demonstrating a “Perth-built” vanadium flow redox flow battery system, following delivery of core components of the technology from South Korea.

Avess, which owns 50 per cent of South Korea vanadium redox flow battery (VFRB) maker Korid Energy, says it received delivery of Korid’s “cutting edge” 25kW stacks in June, for integration into Avess’ battery systems.

The company says it will now seek to integrate the 25kW stacks into its locally manufactured VRFB systems – a key first step in the company’s plan to manufacture the batteries on Australian soil.

According to Avess, Korid’s 25kW rated output battery stack is cheaper and more efficient at energy storage than VRFBs produced by competitors, and has been engineered in a way that makes it easy to manufacture.

“These stacks exhibit superior quality and performance, which aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering advanced energy storage solutions,” said Avess managing director Young Yu.

Ultimately, it is Avess’ plan to to develop, commercialise and locally manufacture the long duration vanadium batteries locally, for use in remote standalone power systems as well as for on-grid applications.

The company earlier this year announced plans to deploy two demonstration VFRB systems at a mine in Western Australia, one with five hours of energy storage duration and one with 10 hours.

As part of the pilot, which will enlist the help of specialist energy and mining consultancy ResourcesWA, Avess will connect a 50kW/250kWh VRFB to an edge-of-grid application to measure arbitrage capability in a solar/grid connection and benchmark the battery system’s levelised cost of storage (LCOS).

“This exercise will aid in validating our proprietary technology in Australia, and the data obtained from the study will be key as AVESS works towards the Australian Renewable Energy Agency set target of $0.10 per kWh LCOS by 2030,” the company has previously said.

A 25kW/250kWh containerised VRFB (10 hour discharge) without grid capabilities will be built by Korid and shipped to Perth and deployed as a diesel displacement stand-alone power system pilot test, the company says on its website.

A third VRFB will be constructed in collaboration with Curtin University as part of an Industry Partner commitment to the Resource Technology & Critical Minerals Processing Trailblazer.