Horizon Power scheduled to install vanadium battery for pilot trials in 2024

State-owned Horizon Power has announced the purchase of a vanadium redox flow battery, which the Western Australian government says is a first for an Australian energy utility.

According to a statement from the state government on Monday, Horizon has signed an agreement for purchase, installation, and commissioning of the vanadium battery for a long-duration energy storage pilot in Kununurra. 

Australian Vanadium’s subsidiary VSUN Energy will provide the 78-kilowatt/220 kilowatt hour battery.

Vanadium batteries offer certain advantages over lithium-ion. They aren’t flammable and have greater energy density, but are also heavier, making them a better match for stationary use rather than in transport.

“Vanadium redox flow batteries are specifically designed to deliver energy over a long period of time, which is crucial for achieving the high levels of decarbonisation we are after,” said WA energy minister Bill Johnston.

“If the pilot is successful, there is potential to expand the use of long-duration, 100 per cent renewable energy across Horizon Power’s 2.3 million square-kilometre network.”

The battery is expected to arrive in Perth early next year, before it is tested and moved to Kununurra.

The new vanadium battery will enable Horizon Power to test providing periods of 100 per cent renewable energy, said the statement from Johnston. 

Picture: credit Australian Vanadium

Further reading

Townsville vanadium battery electrolyte facility opens

Vanadium project moves a step closer

Australian Vanadium lodges patent for process circuit