Australia ARENA Funds Vanadium Flow Battery Project

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide AUD 5.7 million (USD 4.3m/EUR 3.5m) in funding to Yadlamalka Energy Pty Ltd for a vanadium flow battery installation in South Australia.

The project, worth AUD 20.3 million, will see a 2 MW/8 MWh energy storage facility installed at a 6-MW solar farm and connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM). It will demonstrate the potential for vanadium flow batteries to provide energy and frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) on the grid.

In November, Invinity Energy Systems Plc (LON:IES) announced that it would supply the battery system, noting that this was its biggest order so far. The company will start manufacturing the 41 VS3 flow batteries for the project in the first half of 2021.

“The strong uptake of variable renewable energy like solar PV and wind has highlighted the need for increased energy storage and vanadium flow batteries could play a major role in addressing this need, complementing the role of more established technologies such as pumped hydro energy storage and lithium ion batteries in the Australian market,” said ARENA chief executive Darren Miller.

Vanadium flow batteries are designed for use in high-utilisation applications. They do not degrade with cycling and, at the same time, offer a much more flexible solution than pumped hydro energy storage.

www.ferroalloynet.com