Brave Look at Future of a Utility-Scale Battery

Our attention has been diverted temporarily from long-term growth topics.  To some economic life after the coronovirus pandemic may seem illusive.  This article looks past face masks and social distancing, to bravely consider the future and large storage batteries, specifically vanadium flow batteries.  Called redox flow for short these batteries had been heralded as a key growth driver for vanadium materials and a vital step forward for solar and wind power. 

In a flow battery, fluids containing electro-active materials are pumped through side-by side cells filled with electrodes and separated by an ion-exchange membrane.  After electrons from the electro-active materials are extracted, pumps push the spent fluid or electrolyte back into large storage vessels at the side.

 The configuration gives flow batteries many of the characteristics that utilities covet for large-scale energy storage:  long life, low maintenance, safety, no stand-by loss and high charging rates.  Perhaps even more important is that scaling up flow batteries for more power is easily accomplished with larger electrolyte storage tanks and increased electrode surface area.

Vanadium can exist in solutions in four different oxidation states, making it ideal for the electro-active material in a flow battery.  True enough the cost of the electrolyte is highly dependent upon the price of vanadium materials, which are also sought after for steel making and other uses.  Nonetheless, recovery and reuse of vanadium in the electrolyte is possible, providing some improvement to the economics of a vanadium flow battery.

 

SELECTED ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
	Max Power (MW)	Discharge Time	Max Cycles	Energy Density (Wh/liter)	Efficiency
Pumped Hydro	3,000	4h – 16h	30 – 60 yrs	0.2 – 2	70%  -  85%
Compressed Air	1,000	2h – 30h	20 – 40 yrs	2 – 6	40% - 70%
Molten Salt (Thermal)	150	hours	30 yrs	70 – 210	80%  -  90%
Lithium Ion Battery	100	1 min -  8 hrs	1,000 - 10,000	200  -  400	85%  - 95%
Lead-acid Battery	100	1 min – 8 hrs	6 – 40 yrs	50  -  80	80% -  90%
Flow Battery	100	hours	12,000 – 14,000	20  -  70	60%  - 85%
Hydrogen	100	Min to Hrs	5 – 30 yrs	600	25%  -  45%
Flywheel	20	Sec to Mins	20,000  - 100,000	20  80	70%  -  95%
Source:  World Energy Council

 

Smart Energy International reported in August 2019, that there are over 100 vanadium redox flow battery installations around the world with an estimated capacity of 209,900 kilowatt hours of energy.  That may seem like a drop in the bucket to some investors…and rightly so.  So far pumped storage is the method of choice.  However, not all locations are conducive to this geographically constrained method.  Lithium ion battery storage has been adopted at a much faster pace, such that most of the 700-plus megawatts of large-scale energy storage installed at the end of 2017, was represented by lithium ion technology.  Unfortunately, these systems are not expected to have a long service life, leaving owners with a replacement decision not very far in the future.  Flow batteries may not have the energy density of a lithium ion battery, but flow battery service life could be as much as times that of lithium ion designs.   

Regardless of battery technology, the International Energy Association (IEA) estimates goals to thwart global warming require rapid adoption rates for renewable energy and the ability to store as much as 266 gigawatts of energy by 2030.  The large market opportunity has battery developers jostling for market position.

 

The next post considers a selected group of vanadium redox battery developers and their progress to the market for large-scale batteries.    

 

Neither the author of the Small Cap Strategist web log, Crystal Equity Research nor its affiliates have a beneficial interest in the companies mentioned herein.