Gaining Traction, page-3

Lithium batteries rejected......
Vanadium flow batteries: A unique battery for a unique operation

Tidal generation is predictable yet variable, as turbines generate energy four times a day with the ebb and flow of the tide. This sinusoidal energy generation potential does not provide the continuous supply of power optimal for hydrogen production, so EMEC looked to battery energy storage to address the issue.

For a battery to effectively manage tidal generation it needs to charge and discharge up to four times a day, a duty cycle that would rapidly degrade the lithium-ion batteries that currently dominate the stationary energy storage market.

Solar-coupled energy storage projects typically require just one charge and discharge daily, so by comparison regulating tidal generation presents an extremely heavy duty cycle for a battery system.

EMEC has therefore partnered with Invinity Energy Systems, supported by the Scottish Government, to deploy a 1.8MWh vanadium flow battery (VFB) to ‘smooth’ tidal generation and create continuous, on-demand electricity to generate hydrogen.

Vanadium flow batteries are a form of heavy-duty, stationary energy storage that are ideal for high-utilisation, industrial settings. They provide hours of continuous power, one or more times per day, through decades of service. Most importantly for EMEC, they suffer no degradation of their performance based on the number of charge and discharge cycles they complete. This makes them the perfect candidate for balancing tidal energy’s cyclical generation patterns.