Australian Vanadium advances redox flow battery manufacture

Australian Vanadium (AVL )will receive this month three vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) from its Singapore partner as it advances plans to manufacture vanadium electrolytes and VRFB’s in Western Australia.

The batteries from V-Flow Tech destined for WA customers have been sold by AVL’s subsidiary VSUN Energy, which is leading the company’s push into vanadium technology.

AVL was recently awarded a $3.69 million national manufacturing priority grant to advance high purity vanadium production, construct a commercial electrolyte plant and manufacture residential and stand alone power systems including VFRBs.

VFRB’s were invented in Australia and have significant advantages over lithium-ion systems in long duration energy storage that make them particularly suitable for remote locations.

AVL is seeding the market through imports as the technology is not well understood in Australia.

AVL is to supply V-Flow Tech with vanadium electrolyte sourced from its mine south of Meekatharra in WA and processing plant near Geraldton.

VSUN Energy’s objective is to work with V-Flow Tech to build capability and manufacture VFRB systems in Australia, with key elements such as cell stacks imported from Singapore.

Managing director Vincent Algar said: “AVL’s manufacturing grant from the Australian government enables us to accelerate the construction of Australia’s first vanadium electrolyte plant to provide the key supply element to this emerging industry.”

Picture: Australian Vanadium

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