Flow batteriesAnother alternative to lithium-ion batteries for utility-scale battery energy storage system are vanadium redox flow batteries, which is a type of electrochemical cell that uses vanadium in the electrolyte solution.They are considered to be safer, more scalable, and longer lasting than their lithium counterparts with a lifespan of more than 20 years, or up to 25,000 cycles.While still lagging behind their more common counterparts, VRFBs are starting to see greater use with China’s Rongke Power completing in December 2024 a 175MW/700MWh system – the largest of its type in the world.The battery system in the city of Ushi will provide grid forming, peak shaving, frequency regulation and renewable integration.Rongke has also installed the previous largest 100MW/400MWh battery in Dalian.Over in Australia, the WA Labor government made an election pledge to build a 50MW, 10 hour VRFB to support the grid around Kalgoorlie, which has suffered from blackouts in the past two years.Horizon Power installing VRFB unit. Pic: Australian VanadiumIn November 2024, the state’s regional energy provider Horizon Power also started a 12-month trial of a 78 kW/220 kWh VRFB in Kununurra to determine whether it can solve technical challenges associated with establishing long-duration energy storage solutions in extreme environments.This system was supplied by VSUN Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL).Besides its efforts to push for greater use of VRFBs, which is demonstrated by its progress on Project Lumina that seeks to develop a modular, scalable, turnkey, utility-scale BESS, AVL is also progressing its **anintha vanadium project to capture the raw material stage of the vanadium value chain.
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