VSUN Energy Residential VRFB Development
Local Western Australian design and consultancy group appointed for work on residential VRFB design and prototyping.
VSUN Energy is evaluating its recently imported 5kW/30kWh VRFB, manufactured by China’s CEC, with Western Australian based CADDS Group.
Grid-connect ready VRFB product testing and development underway at Bibra Lake facility.
Curtin University engineering student assisting with testwork.
Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL, “the Company” or “AVL”) is pleased to announce that through its 100% owned VRFB subsidiary, VSUN Energy, it has engaged CADDS Group to undertake local design and consultancy for its 5kW/30kWh residential VRFB, which recently arrived from China.
As announced in September1, AVL signed an MOU with Chinese VRFB manufacturer Gui Zhou Collect Energy Century Science and Technology Co Ltd, trading as CEC VRFB Co. Ltd (CEC), based in Guizhou province. The MOU includes product development for CEC’s residential VRFB for the Australian market.
CADDS Group has been engaged to design a new housing for the VRFB system and to provide potential design changes to improve the battery for Australian residential market conditions. The VRFB will be tested onsite at CADDS with the help of engineering capability from Curtin University.
On successful completion of testing, VSUN Energy plans to deploy the unit to a residential customer with a single-phase system, for tests to be completed in a residential environment with solar energy input.
An engineering student from Curtin University will assist with the testwork and will receive training and support from VSUN Energy.
Managing Director Vincent Algar comments, “We are looking forward to working with CADDS Group to develop the design for the residential VRFB. This will give us the opportunity to provide feedback to CEC and ensure that the product is ideal for the Australian market. By initiating market growth in smaller systems we anticipate a knock-on effect for larger VRFB uptake, which in turn will grow the market for vanadium pentoxide in energy storage. With the State and Federal Government’s eagerness for increasing manufacturing and green energy capability in Australia, this project is being launched at an ideal time. AVL’s plans for vanadium electrolyte production also aligns with both Federal and State Governments’ strategies.”
VSUN Energy will refine market-ready residential and small business VRFB’s for the Australian energy storage market, with units available in early 2021.
Points in favour of long duration VRFB for residential use include:
• The large capacity (30kWh) enables higher energy self-consumption from the VRFB during peak hours of solar energy stored during the daylight hours. This significantly increases the renewable energy penetration when compared with other system configurations (eg solar only, or solar and Liion).
• The large capacity also allows option to export excess generation at Government of Western Australia Distributed Energy Buyback Scheme rates. This supports the purpose of the scheme which is to reduce the imbalance between peak energy demand and renewable energy production.
• Choice of timing of self-consumption or sale to the grid of VRFB stored energy allows the householder to make their best economic decision.
In addition to the work VSUN Energy is undertaking with CEC, the company has recently ordered a 5kW/30kWh VRFB from V-Flow Tech in Singapore for a regional residential customer in Western Australia2 and a 5kW/30kWh VRFB from V-Flow Tech for the Beverley Caravan Park.
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