Eyes of the energy world on Australian vanadium battery tech
A deep-storage battery being trialled in Kununurra in the Kimberley region of WA could solve the clean energy challenge for some of the nation’s most remote communities.
As well as being a challenging environment to live or work in, hot and humid Kununurra is not connected to the state or national electricity grid.
The vanadium flow battery won’t power cars, laptops or fit into a mobile phone, but it can store energy for 10-12 hours and help homes and worksites to displace diesel and gas with clean, safe and reliable power.
As the state’s regional power provider, Horizon is using the trial to learn how to provide safe, affordable, reliable off-grid power during extreme temperatures and major weather events.
After stress-testing the technology in Kununurra, it could be rolled out across Horizon’s microgrids and other systems.
With a 78 KW capacity and 220 kWh of storage, WA Energy Minister Reece Whitby says the vanadium battery is well suited to Kimberley conditions, where energy storage must cope with extreme temperatures and deliver energy over a long period of time.
Horizon is also trialling Redflow’s zinc bromine flow battery (100 kW/400 kWh) on Nullagine’s microgrid and BASF’s sodium sulphur battery (250 kW/1450 kWh) at Carnarvon.
The various technologies can shift rooftop solar electricity produced in the middle of the day to evening hours and operate alongside existing lithium-ion batteries to provide longer-duration storage.
As the technology is based around a tank of liquid electrolytes, they are less likely to catch fire.
The technology supplied by VSUN Energy, an offshoot of mining company Australian Vanadium Ltd (AVL), can charge and discharge energy at the same time and the units have a life span of more than 25 years.