A merger has created the lead developer of the mineral needed for vanadium flow battery technology. (HANDOUT/AUSTRALIAN VANADIUM LIMITED) Credit: AAP
Two emerging vanadium producers have combined forces to mine the ore and develop a battery that could make solar energy available around the clock.
A merger completed on Thursday brings together Australian Vanadium and Technology Metals Australia and a world-class asset in WA
Despite a market downturn for energy transition minerals that has halved its combined value, the company said the long-term aim remains the pursuit of a “pit-to-battery” strategy for the Meekatharra ore body.
Unlike two to four-hour big battery storage using lithium-based technology, non-flammable vanadium flow batteries can store and dispatch excess sunshine for up to 18 hours.
“We see inevitable growth in the VFB market as becoming central to domestic demand for vanadium,” the company said.
The technology is built around vanadium that is suspended in electrolyte, a liquid inside the energy storage battery.
Regional energy provider Horizon Power is testing the technology for providing long periods of 100 per cent renewable energy.
Australia has vast reserves of vanadium but most of the world’s supply is sourced from China, Russia and South Africa and goes into making steel alloy.
Australian Vanadium’s vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Wangara was opened in January by Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King.
It has the potential to produce up to 33 megawatt hours of high purity electrolyte a year.
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