Announcement cont ..
Details of Project Lumina are set out below, with the aim of Phase 1 of the project to assess the likely cost competitiveness of a VFB BESS solution and Phase 2 to undertake engineering design and funding for project execution of a VFB BESS solution:
1. Purpose of Project Lumina
As part of the Company's vertically integrated ‘pit-to-battery' strategy,8 Project Lumina is focused on growing the VFB BESS market in Australia through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, VSUN Energy.
This strategy is designed to create an offtake pathway for vanadium oxides produced from the Company's proposed Australian Vanadium Project.
These vanadium oxides would be utilised in the midstream production of vanadium electrolyte,9 supporting VSUN Energy's downstream VFB
BESS installation, operation and maintenance business.10
In growing the VFB BESS market, Project Lumina aims to develop a modular, scalable, turnkey, utility-scale BESS using VFB technology.
AVL's upstream exposure to future vanadium production from its high-grade Tier-1 AustralianVanadium Project is a key competitive advantage for Project Lumina.
In the early stages of VFB BESS deployment, third-party vanadium oxides can be used to advance the battery strategy independently of the Australian Vanadium Project's timeline.
However, longer term, the Company's strategy remains focused on utilising its own high purity vanadium oxides in future VFB BESS
deployments.
2. Battery technology selection
Project Lumina proposes to use proven technology provided by leading international VFB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and engage Australian based engineering and design expertise to optimise the design and delivery for Australian conditions to assist in derisking deployment of VFB BESS at utility scale.
One of the major benefits of VFB BESS, compared to lithium-ion BESS, is their ability to conduct multiple full and partial charge and discharge cycles per day without significant degradation over time.
That flexibility allows the optimisation of the pricing arbitrage between charge and discharge cycles, as well as increasing the available hours of discharge potential throughout the day.
Further benefits of VFB BESS include:
• Proven technology with a history of nearly 20 years of grid-connected VFB BESS.
• Ability to expand discharge duration to over 4 hours, highly suited to 8-12 hour applications.
• The potential for full depth of discharge through life of battery. ..
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