Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Energy storage is set to become the next mega-trend in the solar industry. Solar power is getting more affordable, and coupled with energy storage capacities has the potential to compete with the traditional grid electricity. Large solar installers in USA like SunPower are already offering their customers packages with storage solutions.

Lithium-ion batteries have been prevalent in the power industry. However new technologies and innovations are happening, as energy storage is set to become a huge industry. In a recent news Schmid Energy Systems, one of the leading companies in the industry worldwide has signed a MoU with VanadiumCorp Resource for developing vanadium electrolyte and mineral extraction. The agreement holds good for one year, for the extraction of supply of the mineral to Schmid.

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Schmid director of technology Olaf Conrad said: “The long-term security of supply of VE at predictable cost is of utmost strategic importance for our goal to become the leading global supplier of large-scale grid-energy storage systems. We are excited to work with VanadiumCorp on the development of a primary VE supply by a direct process from vanadium containing mineral.”

Source: Energy Storage

Schmid Energy is the manufacturer of systems for biomass energy. The company specialises in storage solutions based on vanadium redox flow technology, which is gaining traction for grid storage. It is expected that there will be a demand order for a minimum of 300MW of flow batteries this year. These flow batteries will serve long duration storage of several hours and are also capable of balancing loads and maintaining network frequencies efficiently.

Flow Battery as Solar Storage

A typical flow battery is a rechargeable battery, where the charge flows from two chemical components dissolved in liquids. The energy capacity is dependent upon the amount of liquid electrolyte and the electrodes’ surface area. A flow battery is ideal for storing energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind energy, especially during peak demand periods. Flow batteries have long discharge times of more than 10 hours.

With solar energy gaining popularity, solar power storage is of utmost importance for its success. Other renowned players using vanadium in flow batteries are UniEnergy, Imergy and CellCube. I think it should be good chance for Schmid Energy to shine now. As grid integration becomes an issue, energy storage will gain importance with increasing penetration of solar energy. Moreover solar storage is set to explode with falling costs of solar systems and energy storage technologies, and major companies are starting to offer integrated solar systems with energy storage. According to GTM research, global solar installations are expected to increase to 135 GW by 2020. There is no doubt that solar energy storage will grow rapidly in the coming years and energy storage companies should benefit from this mega trend.