Vanadium critical for renewable energy storage, hears Technology and Low Emission Minerals Conference
Date: Nov 16, 2018
The battery mineral is still largely being used in steel production, but its demand is expected to explode as vanadium redox flow batteries are used to store renewable energy.
The central theme to this week’s Technology and Low Emission Minerals Conference was how battery mineral markets, as well as uranium and other clean energy commodities, will be impacted by renewable energy targets and expanding climate change policy.
Speaking after lunch on the first day, CSA Global Pty Ltd principal consultant Tony Donaghy gave a presentation titled ‘Vanadium: Putting Renewable Energy to Work When You Need It’ which detailed the current vanadium market and its growing potential for use in battery storage.
Supported by presentations from vanadium players such as Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) and ScandiVanadium Ltd (ASX:SVD), the conference was reminded of vanadium’s huge growth potential as the principal element in vanadium redox flow batteries.
Vanadium was the best performing battery mineral in the last 12 months, based on price increases, despite most of global supply going to steel production.
Donaghy said that vanadium consumption had substantial room to grow in Asian steel markets due to potential improvements in grade and purity.
New standards for Chinese rebar will require more vanadium and further steel production is expected to increase demand for automotive and aviation materials and high-strength steel structures.
