Are vanadium flow batteries the future of energy storage?

“Due to their inherent advantages in large-scale energy storage, vanadium flow batteries have the potential to service the growing need for grid-scale energy storage solutions in Australia, supporting and stabilising the national electricity grid as renewable energy generators continue to roll out,” Professor Talbot said.

How does a vanadium flow battery work?

VFB’s can operate for well over 20,000 discharge cycles, as much as 5 times that of lithium systems. Therefore, the cost of ownership is lower over the life of the battery. Power and energy are decoupled or separated inside a vanadium flow battery. Power is expressed by the size of the stack; the energy by the volume of electrolyte in the tanks.

What are the benefits of a vanadium flow battery?

Those benefits include longer life, very little degradation of performance over time, and a much wider operating temperature range. All of which significantly reduces the cost of ownership. The vanadium flow battery (VFB) is a rechargeable electrochemical battery technology that stores energy in a unique way.

Are vanadium flow batteries recyclable?

With vanadium flow batteries, all parts and components have a recyclability factor close to 100%. The electrolyte can be processed and reused; 100% of the vanadium can be extracted and reused for other applications with no impact on primary mining. Also, these batteries contain no toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc, and nickel.

Is a vanadium flow battery better than a lithium ion battery?

More importantly, a vanadium flow battery can handle far more charge-discharge cycles than a lithium-ion battery. Lithium batteries store all of the components inside the cells, which makes them simple and well suited for small devices, such as in laptops and cellphones.