First deployment of Australian vanadium in a flow battery

Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) has announced the successful completion of factory acceptance testing (FAT) of a vanadium flow battery (VFB) to be installed at a Horizon Power site in Kununurra, Western Australia.

The 220 kWh VFB, which can deliver up to 78 kW of power, was purchased by Horizon Power for a long duration energy storage project. The battery contains vanadium electrolyte manufactured by AVL at the company’s electrolyte manufacturing facility in Perth.

This marks the first instance of AVL’s vanadium electrolyte being used in an operational VFB and the first instance of AVL’s electrolyte being approved for use by a leading VFB manufacturer, Invinity Energy Systems, meeting stringent quality standards.

“We are pleased to report that the VFB purchased by Horizon Power has now completed the FAT process and is operating successfully,” said AVL’s Chief Executive Officer Graham Arvidson in a release to the ASX. “Over the past months the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, VSUN Energy, has collaborated closely with Horizon Power to successfully integrate its preferred hardware with the battery. This is also a significant milestone for AVL, as it marks the first use of vanadium electrolyte produced at our Perth facility in a functioning battery.

“This is a true testament to our vertical integration strategy, with the ultimate goal of using vanadium oxides processed from the Australian Vanadium Project in our vanadium electrolyte. We are particularly pleased that leading VFB manufacturer Invinity has approved our electrolyte for use in the battery and confirmed that our electrolyte meets its stringent standards.

“We look forward to the successful commissioning and operation of the battery as part of Horizon’s project in regional Western Australia.”

With the completion of FAT, the VSUN Energy team welcomed staff from Horizon Power to view the battery and learn about its potential to address the significant demand for long duration energy storage, which provides support to electricity grids increasingly powered by variable renewable energy such as solar and wind.

Horizon Power is Western Australia’s regional energy provider. The use of long duration energy storage, in the form of VFBs, could assist Horizon Power to accelerate the decarbonisation of its 140 energy networks spread throughout a service area covering 2.3 million square kilometres.

Image: Horizon Power and VSUN Energy staff post FAT completion.