Ann: Vanadium Energy Storage Installation-AVL.AX, page-9

The owners report:

BACKGROUND: Busselton Property Owners (The Stuarts) Farm owner, Lucy Stuart, said she planned to build a new house at her Busselton property, in which she has installed the first CellCube vanadium flow battery in Western Australia. “As part of building a new house, obviously, the first thing you look at is how to get grid power to the house,” she said. “We started doing some research. The commercial system is actually called the CellCube and it will deliver power for the entire farm without us needing to then extend grid power to the house. So it's starting to look cost-effective from that point of view. Then we found there are actually a lot of added benefits. We currently get single-phase power out to the farm – which is normal, that's typical – but this system will produce three-phase power, which is what we're getting in the city here. And the third thing is a bonus, but it's important to us – it might not be important to everyone – but we are fairly committed to sustainable, clean energy. So it's the perfect three-point 'tick in the box' for us.”

VSUN’s battery installation will help business expand on her property, thanks to reliable and cheaper power. The farm operates a small tree nursery with irrigation and power supplies. “We can expand the workshop, if we can get that three-phase power,” Mrs Stuart said. “There are often interruptions to the power supply in rural areas and installing a vanadium battery will allow us to use appliances with a heavy draw-down, without having to time our usage around off-peak hours. “Theoretically, we hope to be 90% self-sufficient with our power. We are also registered as a power exporter, so we can sell back to the grid. So, although that's not initially our primary desire, it’s going to be a nice thing to have.”

Mrs Stuart said it was hugely important for her personally to set up an alternative power supply to diesel. “Diesel is only going to get more expensive anyway, and we wanted clean energy that's sustainable,” she said. “Obviously solar power isn't new, but being able to trap that and hold it chemically, which is what these vanadium batteries can do, is a huge asset.”