Vanadium redox flow battery promising technology choice for Residential Energy Storage market
VSUN Energy, a subsidiary company of Australian Vanadium Limited, intends to enter Australia’s residential energy storage market with a 15kWh base model of vanadium redox flow battery. According to market analysts, vanadium redox flow batteries have a bright outlook and the market is expected to grow to $4 billion by 2027. In a report by IDTechEx, potentially the largest battery in the world, at 800 MWh, is being built in Dalian, northwestern China and will be powered entirely by redox flow batteries.
VSUN Energy has identified strong demand for a residential scale VRB for the Australian market and although the company has terminated its exclusive dealership agreement with the German company Gildemeister, it will keep selling its CellCube battery stacks while at the same time forming new contacts with various international manufacturers of vanadium redox flow batteries.
Vincent Algar, Australian Vanadium managing director, said in an interview with RenewEconomy that he was excited about the technology’s future in the Australian residential energy storage market, despite its higher cost compared to lithium-ion batteries. At present, lithium-ion batteries dominate the market and are more cost-effective, but VRB systems have a longer lifespan, have low fire risk, and Algar is confident the prices will come down as the market evolves.
The company has also plans to set up a local manufacturing base, thus increased scale of production and reduced transportation costs will bring the cost of batteries down. When it comes to developing markets with high levels of residential rooftop generated solar energy, the existence of a novel VRB system can lead on to an even wider acceptance of the technology with its “significant points of difference” to key competitors.
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